Blog entries for katesi4

Your Weekly "Lost"-cap: The End

katesi4 — Mon, 24 May 2010 12:45:28 GMT

"Nobody can tell ya,
there's only one song worth singing."

I'm not actually going to 'cap The End. What?! See...the profound quality the finale had...well, I guess I feel it's important to really absorb it in your own way...without me muddling it up with a lot of words and stuff. But speaking of words, for someone who is so verbose all the time, I'm finding it difficult to put my final thoughts into words....

...Ohhhh nope, wait a minute...yeeaaah here they are.

First of all, in my own humble opinion, I just sunk into this final episode like the first time I read JD Salinger's Franny. Huh? In other words, it was as if the writers curled up in my brain, snagged some pieces of gray matter, and threw them onto a page: the stuff that makes me laugh, sigh, gasp, yell, and bawl my guts out. And that's what I loved about Lost in its entirety. It's just something that clicked with me...and hopefully with those of you reading this right now.

Who could've predicted this television program would be what it was? The Lostcap has made me watch and appreciate the show WAY beyond how any normal-minded person should watch and appreciate the show (I mean WAY beyond). The thing about Lost is that, if you over-analyze it, you will probably learn more in the 121-ish hours of episodes than 4 years of college. Where else would you learn about Western and Eastern Philosophy; Judeo-Christian History; Egyptian, Roman and Greek Mythology; Sports; Geography (Sunda Trench what now?); Classic and Modern Literature, Music, and Art; World History; Botony, Biology, and Chemistry; Astronomy, Astrology, and Quantum Physics? Sometimes all in one episode!
I mean really.
But more than just the technicalities, it was the characters, the dialogue, the silences, the heart behind the series. Sometimes it just took your breath away.

I'm going to play the pessimistic card and say that there will probably never be a fiction network television series like this ever again. At least not of this caliber. Or in my lifetime. Which is sad, but attests to how bloody brilliant these producers, writers, actors, crew truly are. Lucky for me, since another "Lost" will never exist again, I'll never have to write a weekly recap either.
I lie.
I'm going to miss it terribly :'(
I don't want to say goodbye to my friends, even if they are just TV characters. My brain is going to turn to mush and blood will drip from my nose as I suffer from intense information withdrawal. The fishbiscuits, Dharma beer, and imaginary jars of peanut butter will gather dust in the back of my mind. In the meantime I'll simply await the moment when someone I didn't know I knew touches my shoulder or hands me an Apollo bar...we'll both look at each other quizzically...but then we'll know. Tears will gather in our eyes. We'll know.

"So if you cannot take my hand
And if you must be goin'
I will understand."

I loved Lost. So very very much.
It's been an absolute pleasure steering this little boat on the vast Lost sea.
Your 'Cap Cappin' Cap'n,
~Katie

The End.

Your Weekly "Lost"-cap: What They Died For

katesi4 — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:55:53 GMT

What They Died For

I read/heard a lot of disappointments from last week's unconventional episode. A lot of fans seemed very confused by what it was all 'supposed to mean.' We see now, however, the answers to one of our biggest questions: Why did the Losties end up on the Island? Jacob is merely trying to pass on the torch. He decided to tap into the outside world to find his replacement, wrote some names on a wall, and set the wheels in motion to bring these potential successors to the Island. He didn't want to bring Lost Causes, however, but rather Lost Souls: People who had fumbled their way through the Grand Scheme, but carried the potential to find their way again. Some people, however, fumbled too far. The following piece of dialogue is probably one of the greatest flashing signs we've had in awhile:
Hurley: "She's not coming with us?"
Dez: "She's not ready yet."
Not. Ready. Yet.
This goes along with a very important Lostian mythology I've mentioned a few times, but will reiterate here. Most religions offer the opportunity of an Afterlife. What I've always found promising about various versions of the Afterlife is the possibility that you get another chance to get somewhere better. In other words, say you do something bad, like real bad...with the opportunity at an Afterlife, you get the shot to fix what you've done in the past and move on. If this doesn't scream Lost, I don't know what does. I've mentioned that a few of Losties seem as though they have themselves some pretty good alternative lives in Sideways World: Jack discovering how to be a better father, Locke and Helen making a go of their relationship, Ben taking Alex under his wing, Sawyer becoming the good cop, and Hurley becoming the successful businessman without a speck of bad luck to be seen. I've postulated that it's almost as if they've done something good "somewhere else" to earn this "better place" in their "current lives." Ok that was a lot of air quotes. Somewhere else/better place/current lives are all terms I used loosely since we are still in the dark about what Sideways really is. I think Jack's bleeding neck has something to do with connecting the two Worlds, however. In just a few days, we'll know.

The One of These Things is Not Like the Other portion of our program clearly tells us that Ana Lucia is worse off in Sideways. Not necessarily lifestyle-wise, but rather her character. Even though she can't go with the Losties, however, this doesn't mean she'll never get there.
She's just not ready....yet.
The question is, HOW do they manage to get to this aforementioned "better place"?? Well, in my humble opinion, they simply needed to experience something truly EYE OPENING to figure it out.
And on that note, the first scene of this week's episode (and many MANY episodes behind us) is Jack opening his eyes:

David: "So you're coming to the concert tonight, right?"
Jack "Absolutely. Is your mom coming?"
Small hint to Jack's old flame who will appear at the Big Concert...while Miles mentioned that Charlotte will be there, would it be TOO weird that in Sideways, Jack and Sawyer both slept with the same woman and it wasn't Kate??

An Incident in the parking lot

Dez to Ben: "I'm here to help [Locke] let go...

....do you want to know who I am?"
Cue psychic connection to Island World via face pummeling.
Ben to Locke: "While he was beating me I think I saw something. He wasn't trying to hurt you...he was trying to get you to let go. Does that mean something to you?"

Alex: "You've got one hand...you look like Napoleon."

Ben: "Where's her father?"
Danielle: "He died when Alex was two. It's probably why she's so attached to you. All the interest you've taken in her, you're the closest thing to a father she's ever had."

The man who had the most to *fix* officially comes full circle. And seeing the emotion coming from Ben's eyes, it's almost as if he remembered it too: someone...somewhere...another life...another time.

Locke: "What if all this--? Maybe this is happening for a reason. Maybe you're supposed to fix me."
Jack: "I think you're mistaking coincidence for fate."
Locke: "You can call it whatever you want, but here I am. I think I'm ready to get out of this chair."

Desmond: "I think it's time to leave. The driver already knows where to stop. After I set you free, I'm going to ask each of you to do something...you have to promise me you'll do it."
Ana Lucia: "Where's your friend with my money?"
Hurley: "Oh you didn't tell me Ana Lucia was going to be here...uh no, we never met. Here's your $145 grand."
Ana Lucia: "Nice not knowing you."
Is it??

Kate: "What do you mean, 'I'm with you'?"
Dez: "WE are going to a concert."

I for one can't wait for this massive gathering of Losties from around the globe. And you were there. And you. And YOU!

I thought that guy had a God Complex before.

Ben: "It's where I was told I could summon the Monster, that's before I realized it was the one summoning me."

Ben: "How did you get back here?"
Charles: "Jacob invited me."
Ben: "That's a lie. You've never even seen Jacob."
Charles: "He visited me after your people destroyed the freighter. He convinced me the error of my ways and told me everything I needed to know for this exact purpose."

Widmore: "I brought Desmond Hume back because of his unique resistance to electromagnetism. He was a measure of last resort."

I tend not to believe Widmore either in this scenario. But if, as we later find out, he truly did confess to MIB that Desmond is the failsafe, perhaps that's why Widmore's connection to the Island was so important.

Smlocke to Widmore: "It's clear you're not afraid to die. So there's only one way to motivate you to tell me what I want to know.....when I finally leave this Island, the first thing I'm going to do is kill your daughter, Penny."
An interesting thing to say with Ben looking on because this is precisely what Ben said to Widmore awhile back, after he caused Ben's own daughter's death.

Smlocke: "I need you to kill some people for me, Ben. Once I leave this Island you can have it all to yourself."

MIB knows Ben's deepest desire is control over the Island. This reminds me of how the devil tempted Jesus with promises of all the riches and all the worlds. Does Ben really fall for it though?

Ben: "Did you say there were some other people to kill?"
Alright, it seems like Ben's turning right back into the jag he used to be, but I think our Master Manipulator has a trick up his sleeve. Sure he shot Widmore...but like I said a 'Cap or so ago, I was starting to think that Widmore was the same guy we always figured him to be: after one thing and one thing only...the special powers of the Island. And he didn't care who got in his way. The only motive Ben ever REALLY had when he did his awful, awful things was to protect the Island because "Jacob told him to." Widmore's motives have been much more slimy if you ask me. But then again, that's just my theory. I honestly think Ben...in BOTH worlds...will make up for his past mistakes. I mean seriously, Smlocke was the one who convinced Ben to kill Jacob in the foot...I don't think Ben was too happy when he realized how massive of a mistake that was! The real question is: will Ben get to see Jacob one final time before the fire goes out?

Ben: "What did Widmore say to you?"
Smlocke: "He said Desmond was a failsafe...Jacob's last resort in case I manage kill all his beloved Candidates. One final way to make sure I never leave this place."
Ben: "Then why are you happy he's still alive?"
Smlocke: "I'm going to find Desmond and when I do, he's going to help me do something I could never do myself. I'm going to destroy the Island."

So, in other words, Desmond is a personification of the failsafe key he used long ago in efforts to discharge the Island's building electromagnetism when The Button computer was destroyed. MIB believes using Desmond will metaphorically turn the key back to re-engage the electromagnetism to destruction point.

We're very close to the end.

Jacob: "My ashes are right there in that fire. When it burns out you'll never see me again."

Jacob: "Come sit down and I'll tell you what they died for...I'll tell you why I chose them, and why I chose you. I brought all of you here because I made a mistake a long time ago. Because of that now there's a chance every single one of you and everyone you ever cared about is going to die. You call him the Monster...I made him that way."
Sawyer: "Why do I gotta be punished for your mistake? What made you think you could mess with my life. I was just doin' just fine before you--"
Jacob: "No you weren't. None of you were. I didn't pluck any of you out of a happy existence. You were all flawed. I chose you because you were like me. You were all alone, looking for something you couldn't find out there. You needed this place as much as I needed you."

Jack: "What is the job?"
Jacob: "There's a light at the center of the Island. You have to make sure it never goes out...protect it from him.
Hurley: "So how are you going to pick?
Jacob: "I'm not going to pick. I want you to have the one thing I was never given...a choice."
Jack: "I'll do it. This is why I'm here. This is what I'm supposed to do."

Jack drinks from the cup. And just as Jacob's mother said:
Jacob: "Now you're like me."

Five days.
Five days and that's it friends. I hope for everyone's sake that we feel satisfied with a build up this intense. Just remember to open your eyes and apply some imagination. Don't necessarily let the writers dictate to you the precise answers you think you want. Think about your own life, your own mistakes, what you wish you could fix, where you hope you'll end up. Put yourselves in our beloved Losties' place and imagine you've been given what I can only imagine is the opportunity of a lifetime. Perhaps several lifetimes.

I'll meet you back here Sunday evening for The End.

Your Weekly "Lost"-cap: Across the Sea

katesi4 — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:01:30 GMT

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all Moms out there! Hopefully you didn't burn a bunch of people and get stabbed by your ad hoc son!

Across the Sea

Claudia: "How did you get here?"
Mom: "The same way you got here, by accident."

She could just be lying, but what if her mother's mother's mother did originally arrive there by accident? And how long has she been alive on the Island? It could be hundreds, even thousands of years! Clearly, once you "take over" you stop aging and simply wait for the next Candidate to stumble along. In any case, by the end of this episode we have one really large question answered. The Island's history is cracked open like a juicy coconut. But there's still some mystery about the very very origin of the Island, and I like it that way. It's like the questions surrounding our own origin here. Were we created by God? Did we evolve from plankton? Did aliens drop us off? Who knows if we'll ever know, but NOT knowing puts a sort of fire below us, encouraging us to find out more until we pass on.

Why do you love him more than me?

From the night they were born and placed into black and white blankets respectively, the Boy in Black and Jacob--the blonde boy Smlocke has seen in the jungle from time to time--have a complicated, but relatively affectionate relationship. Interesting sidebar: If you remember, Hurley found a manuscript called Bad Twin in the plane wreckage, which both he and Sawyer read. The author, Gary Troup, died in the crash. Sawyer never got to finish the manuscript because Jack burned the last ten pages in an argument.

MIB: "It's a game...you play it."
Jacob: "How do you know how?"
MIB: "I just know."

The game MIB finds is called Senet. Dating back to ancient Egypt, Senet is possibly the oldest "board game" in history. The word senet basically means "game of passing."

Egyptians believed the winner of the game to be protected by gods, thus the game was regarded as an important token for the dead to bring with them to the next life. Mom: "Jacob doesn't know how to lie. He's not like you."
MIB: "What am I like?"
Mom: "You're....special."

These two bits of conversation, the "I just know" and "You're special," remind me of Richard's Search for Someone Special. As a young boy, Locke apparently failed the special test. Richard created the test undoubtedly to help Jacob find his replacement...researching the various Candidates, so to speak. Locke was tested long ago and failed even then.

MIB: "What's dead?"
Mom: "Something you will never have to worry about."
Unless you die or something.

Mom: "They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same."
This is exactly what MIB repeated to Jacob when they were chatting on the beach in last year's finale. Both MIB and his mother realize the true evil inside humanity. Jacob, on the other hand, could be construed as naive. But I like to think that he sees hope. Two different sides of the same coin: realism and optimism.

Mom: "That's what people do."
MIB: "But we're people, does that mean we can hurt each other?"
Mom: "I've made it so you can never hurt each other."
For now? But what's this? Distracted by wet golden warm things...
Mom: "This is the reason we're here."
MIB: "What's down there?"
Mom: "The warmest brightest light you've ever seen or felt. We must make sure no one ever finds it. That's why they want it. A little bit of this very same light is inside every man. But they always want more."

Here we have a representation of our own proverbial Tree of Knowledge. In the Adam and Eve story, the Tree symbolizes Free Will. Once the couple was tempted with this scrumptious nugget of info, they and--as the story goes--the rest of us were goners. Well sort of. Knowledge is power and, in the right hands, can be a positive thing. MIB's mom is right, however. We always want more and this is what corrupts the "good" aspect of knowledge.

Mom: "If the light goes out here, it goes out everywhere."
Similarly, as Jacob will explain to Richard one day: If you in turn let the darkness escape, it will spread.
Mom: "I can't protect it forever."
MIB: "Then who will?"
Mom: "It will have to be one of you."

MIB: "Why can't Jacob see you?"
Claudia: "Because I'm dead."
Just one more clue into the pile to indicate that MIB is much more "special" than Jacob.

Jacob to Mom: "He's leaving, he's going to the Other people."
MIB to Jacob: "We don't belong with her."
Mom: "You need to know this: Whatever you have been told, you will not be able to leave this Island."
MIB: "That's not true...one day I can prove it."

Mom to Jacob: "If I had let [Claudia] live...she would've taken you back to her people and those people are bad. I couldn't let you become one of them. I needed you to stay good.

Jacob: "Am I good?"

This begs the question: Does this mean the Candidate replacing Jacob has to be "good" in the same way? Faux Mom went to great strides to keep her sons good, sheltering them from the rest of humanity. Clearly this was an important quality for The Protector to possess. But the remaining Lostie Candidates have been spoiled and poisoned by the outside world. This can only mean one thing. Perhaps a new era is on the horizon. Remember when MIB smashed Jacob's bottle of wine on the rocks? In addition to being symbolic of MIB's own wrath unleashed, maybe it also symbolized the end of the line for how the Island's Protector comes to be.

Sidebar for a moment: Isn't it strange how Locke would've been the ultimate choice in that he was obsessed with protecting the Island? Meanwhile Jack, or at least old Jack, did everything he could to leave. Now they've completely switched roles. It's sort of sad. While I'm not sure how, I hope Sideways Locke's life pans out because he really got the shiz end of the stick. He had no choice in the matter either. He tried so hard to get everyone back together to head back to the Island and then BEN of all people shows up and murders him.

To recollect my thoughts for a second: Perhaps the fact that Faux Mom originally thought MIB--not Jacob--would take her place, only to realize that Jacob was the true Candidate afterall is a direct parallel to Jack and Locke. Looking back we would assume Locke to be the ideal Candidate, but Jack came up outta nowhere. And now it does feel right. Jack has changed. Perhaps this goes to show us that it isn't necessarily all about fate OR free will...but rather whatever happens, happens....where ever the chips fall, that's where they lie.

One day you can make up your own game and everyone will have to follow your own rules.

MIB: "Why do you watch us Jacob?"
Jacob: "I watch because I want to know if mother's right."
MIB: "You want to know if they're bad. That woman may be insane but she's definitely right about that. I've lived among them for 30 years. They're greedy manipulative, untrustworthy, and selfish...They are a means to an end. I found a way off the Island. There are very smart men among us...Men who are curious about how things work."

People who are basically precursors to Dharma.

MIB: "We have discovered places all over this Island where metal behaves strangely...we dig...this time we found something."

Jacob: "I don't want to leave this Island, it's my home."
MIB: "Well it's not mine."

Again, like I said before, this is SUCH an epic echo of Locke and Jack...Locke wanted to stay, Jack wanted to leave. Now Jack wants to stay and of course MIB using Locke's body wants to leave.

MIB: "I spent 30 years searching for that place...I have walked this Island from end to end, not once coming close to finding it. What if the light underneath the Island, what if I could find it from some place else? They have some very interesting ideas of what to do with it."
Donkey Wheel.
Mom: "What is that?"
MIB: "We're going to make an opening and attach the wheel to a system we're building: A system that channels the water and the light. And when I turn it, I'll finally be able to leave this place."
Mom: "How do you know all this?"
MIB: "I'm special mother."

Jacob: "What's down there?"
Mom: "Life, death, rebirth. It's the source, the heart of the Island. Just promise me, no matter what you do, you won't ever go down there."
Jacob: "Would I die?"
Mom: "You'd would be worse than dying...much worse."

Notice she says "you'd be worse."

Mom: "You accept the responsibility that you will protect this place for as long as you can. It has to be you Jacob."
Jacob: "You wanted it to be him. But now I'm all you have."
Mom: "It was always supposed to be you Jacob. I see that now. One day you'll see it too. Until then, you don't really have a choice. Please: Take the cup and drink."

...Take this cup away from me, for I don't want to taste it's poison...
Definitely an allusion to Jesus in the Garden praying to pass on the metaphorical cup of suffering and death. Jacob drinking is perhaps symbolic of putting aside his Free Will as a sacrifice for what is to be done.
Mom: "Now you and I are the same."

Our very own Adam and Eve.

Since the beginning of this whole six year journey (episode number five to be exact), we've wondered about these skeletons Locke dubbed Adam and Eve. So poignant to us now as we really do see the Island as a Garden of Eden...a garden still being protected against the flaws of humanity living upon its soil.

So much history literally lying there in that cave...the cave that symbolizes life as it gave the Losties water and shelter and protection when they needed it most, but also death as it is where Boone ultimately died. The Man in Black disguised himself as Jack's father to lead the Losties to this place. He said he wanted them to find water, but now we realize he was really trying to show them: Look what happened to me and what this Island is capable of.

As Jacob/MIB's mother explains, entering into the golden light is a fate worse than death. Much like Adam himself, MIB revolts against good to chose to live amongst humanity and find truth.

In another way, he's like Lucifer the fallen angel our culture now recognizes as the devil. Once good, but wanted more...knew there was something beyond the gates and choses to fall to find it.

It was Jacob's decision, however, to throw MIB into the light...and ultimately extract the light from him by doing so.
MIB: "You can't kill my Jacob, she made it that way."
Jacob: "Don't worry, brother, I'm not going to kill you."
The Smoke Monster is born. And the rest is history.

Well my brain is slop, how about yours? I'm not sure how much more they will touch on Dharma, Hanso, and the remainder of the Lostie history, but I think we can safely say that the information about this Tunnel of Love was somehow passed on through the pipeline, which caused the domino affect of people trying to locate the Island. What this says about Charles Widmore's motives is pretty dodgy. Perhaps keeping the Man in Black ON the Island is just as crucial as getting Widmore OFF...leaving the final Candidate to chill out for a little while without all the dramz.

On a somber note, next week's episode is titled What They Died For. Will more of our beloved Losties pass on? Sigh.

Your Weekly "Lost"-cap: The Candidate

katesi4 — Wed, 05 May 2010 13:28:48 GMT

The Candidate

Fallen comrades all over the place :'( Goodbye Sayid. Goodbye Sun and Jin. Goodbye Lapidus I guess. And Sawyer and Kate are spotty at best. I'm glad on this "May The 4th Be With You" Day, the darkness didn't completely take over Sayid so he could save his buddies. And I'm glad Sun and Jin died together...Sun risked her life and came back to save Jin...Jin returns the favor.

Honestly though, this is it folks. It makes you think about this Island World and how it will go on. Will all the Losties give up their lives in order to save the rest of the world? Will every name have to be figuratively crossed off leaving the lone Candidate? When all is said and done, will we sit in our comfy chairs and couches thinking that perhaps...somehow...somewhere...the Losties truly did exist? That they were out on some Island giving up their lives to keep the Evil corked...unable to return here to the real world to live out the rest of their lives?

Well enough of that sappy sadness.

I wish you believed me.

Locke: "I know you..."
Jack: "We were on the same flight..."
Locke: "Am I alright?"
Jack: "I got a look at the initial injury to your spine...I was hoping you could tell me how that happened. I think you're a Candidate...for a new procedure. You may even walk again. I think that I could fix you."
Locke: "No thank you."

Jack: "I'm a surgeon...I was hoping to get a look at one of your patient files. You had done some emergency oral surgery on him three years back."
Which could very well correspond to when Anthony Cooper pushed Locke out of the window in Island World time.
Dentist Bernard: "Why are you so interested?"
Jack: "He and I met on the same flight..."
Bernard: "Oceanic 815. I sat across from you...Pretty weird, huh? I can tell you that when I treated Mr. Locke, there was another man in the same accident."
Jack: "Anthony Cooper."
Bernard: "I hope you find what you're looking for."

Is it just me or is Bernard totally in tune with what's *really going on. I mean after he and Rose decided to separate from the rest of the group and live on the Island peacefully, it's as if he became this wise sage or something. And Sideways Bernard reflects that...subtly helping Jack to the next piece of the puzzle.....

Jack: "I'm here to see Anthony Cooper. Do you know him? Is that why you're here?"
Helen: "John told me about the operation, he doesn't want it. Just leave us alone. You saved John's life, why can't that be enough?"
Jack: "Because it's not."
...And presenting Anthony Cooper, the vegetable. It's strange because part of me felt happy...remembering the a'hole Island World Anthony Cooper who was so very very cruel to his son. So this was justice. But then later, after the following exchange, I felt sad for him:

Jack: "I went to see your father. I felt like I had to understand why..."
Locke: "I was in a plane crash. I had had my private pilot's license for a week. I begged my father to be my first official passenger...he was terrified of flying. I looked him right in the eye and I told him he could trust me. It was my fault. This man who I loved more than anything would never walk or talk..."

Clearly Locke is punishing himself in that wheelchair. He thinks he deserves to be there after what he did to his father. Such an interesting juxtaposition to Island World. In both instances Anthony Cooper puts him in the wheelchair: literally in Island World...figuratively in Sideways.

Jack: "You told me my father was gone, and it hurt to hear that, but I knew you were right. Your father's gone too. You can punish yourself as much as you want, and it's never going to bring him back. What happened happened. You can let go."
Locke: "What makes you think letting go is so easy?"
Jack: "It's not, in fact I don't really know how to do it myself. That's why I was hoping maybe you could go first."
...
Jack: "I can help you John. I wish you believed me."

And taking it back a bit...
While Locke is in the hospital bed, asleep and dreaming, he mumbles:
"Push the button. I wish you had believed me."

Which, if you recall, was what was written on Locke's suicide note to Jack.

Save it for a rainy day.

Claire to Jack: "The lawyer gave me this...she said my father especially wanted me to have it."
...a music box which then plays "Catch a Falling Star" (I mean of course right?) Oddly enough, in Island World, Claire knows that her father sang this song to her as a baby, which is why she tells the adoptive parents to sing it to Aaron once she gives him over. The Oceanic Airlines mobile plays it while Claire is under Ethan's watch. And Kate sings the tune to Aaron when she's putting him to bed. But apparently here in Sideways World, Claire had no idea Christian ever sang this song to her.

Claire: "You mind how I ask how he died?"
Jack: "He drank himself to death. I flew down to bring his body back."
Claire: "I just flew in from Sydney a few days ago..."
Jack: "Oceanic flight 815??

I mean c'mon Jack. Like 394820582053 people have given you the same weird "Flight 815????" look in the past, what, 24 hours or so?? Let's get it together!!! But speaking of Sideways Jack, turns out my theory about Locke's life hanging in the balance while Jack has a "big decision to make" did NOT play out. Oh well..I thought it'd be a cool plot twist! Clearly Sideways Locke *needs to be dead though right?? If Desmond tried to knock him off? Unless Dez was just taking his Island World anger out on an innocent wheelchair-bound Smlocke-lookalike?

On an unrelated note, I'm going to stick the two hospital-related eggs in here:
One, the Apollo Candy Bar and two, the intercom message: "House keeping dial 23"

And we're dead.

Charles: "I have a list of names...Ford, you're on it. Kate Austen, she's not. It doesn't matter if she lives or dies. You may not believe it, but I'm doing this for your own good. Is the fence live yet? Tell them to work faster. He's coming."

Sayid: "Mr. Widmore fired at us. Mr. Locke saved you."
Jack: "Why did he bring me here?"
Smlocke: "Your friends got themselves captured, and now we have to rescue them."
Jack: "I'm not leaving the Island."
Smlocke: "Well your friends do want to leave. I'm going to need your help convincing them to trust me."
Jack: "Why should I trust you?"
Smlocke: "Because I could kill you and there's not a thing you could do to stop me. But instead of killing you, I saved your life."

Convenient. Very convenient.

Kate: "They wouldn't have killed me, James."
Sawyer: "That cave I told you about...your name was there too, but it was crossed out. He doesn't need you Kate."

Kate: "So you're coming with us now?"
Jack: "I'm sorry Kate, I'm not meant to go."

Dead guy's watch???
Oh.

Smlocke: "Widmore knew that I would kill these men. They were only guarding the plane for show. He wants us all to get at the same place at the same time, a nice confined space we have no hope of getting out of...and kill us."
Jack: "Kill us with what?"
Smlocke: "Four bricks of C4" (remember the Flame? the Freighter?) "Wired to the electrical system of the plane. If we would've turned it on...boom. If we're going to leave the Island, we're going to have to take the submarine."
Sawyer: "That's twice you've saved us...guess I was wrong about you."
Sawyer to Jack: "I don't trust that Thing one bit. Once we get to the dock, you make sure IT doesn't get on the sub."

Smlocke: "Whoever told you you needed to stay had no idea what they were talking about."
Jack: "John Locke told me I needed to stay."

"I wish you believed me" remember??!! So yeah, Man in Black...you should have realized how taking over Locke's body, the same guy who convinced everyone to go BACK to the Island, was going to backfire.

Claire: "They're leaving us!"
Smlocke: "Trust me you don't wanna be on that sub."
:(

Jack: "Nothing's gonna happen. Locke can't kill us. This is what he wanted, this is what he was waiting for. Everything he has done has been to get us here: the same place at the same time, a nice enclosed space where we have no hopes of getting out of. Locke said he can't leave the Island without us. I think he can't leave the Island unless we're all dead. He told me he could kill any one of us, so what if he hasn't because he's not allowed to. What if he's trying to get us to kill each other?"

What I find interesting is that we know the "Experiment" goes something along the lines of Jacob and MIB letting everyone make their own decisions and basically letting free will play out. However, MIB has been able to kill all kinds of people (clearly the reason both the pylons and the Temple existed...to protect against this). However, he can't kill the Losties. Is it specifically the fact that their names were on the cave wall and in the lighthouse? Crossed out or not, that they were, at some point, Candidates? What does that mean for the others who have died at his hand? Their lives aren't worth as much as a Candidate's life?

Sawyer: "I'm not going to stand here and do nothing!"
Jack: "We are going to be ok...you just have to trust me."
Sawyer: "Sorry doc. I don't."
And that's where you really f'd it up there, didn't you Sawyer? I wonder if he hadn't touched it, it wouldn't have exploded :\

Sayid: "There's a well on the main Island...Desmond's inside it. Locke wants him dead, which means you're going to need him."
Jack: "Why are you telling me this?"
Sayid: "Because it's going to be you Jack."

Did you get that?
It's going to be you.
The Candidate.

Smlocke: "It sunk."
Claire: "They were all on it. They're dead."
Smlocke: "Not all of them."
Exactly. He knows this because he's still there on the Island!
Claire: "Where are you going?"
Smlocke: "To finish what I started."

UGH. So I know there's been a lot of back and forth about whether or not the Man in Black is truly evil. I think this episode kinda clinches it hey? This isn't necessarily saying the Widmore is the hero by any stretch, but I definitely think we've established the fact that the Man in Black is a pretty mean dude. A part of us wanted to believe that he simply wanted to escape the Island...that perhaps he was being held there unfairly. But he's probably being held there for a reason. Clearly shown by the fact that he almost killed everyone in one fell swoop.

And on that note, I wonder how many more will die? As I watched Hurley and Kate break down in despair...and Jack look up at the sky in complete bewilderment, I too would feel pretty awful if I were those three. Just days ago they were comfy cozy at home ready to forget the Island and live out the rest of their lives. And then "WE HAVE TO GO BACK" Jack brought them to this completely confusing mess where most of their friends are dead.

Next week is the unprecedented episode I've mentioned in passing: Across the Sea. It will feature Man in Black and Jacob and their past, and while it will explain much about the relationship between these two and why they exist for the Island, I believe the episode will almost stand alone amongst the other Lost episodes...an entity unto itself. I for one am very much looking forward to it. Somewhere...beyond the sea...somewhere waiting for me....

Your Weekly "Lost"-cap: The Last Recruit

katesi4 — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:56:49 GMT

"Don't worry it's going to be ok. You're with me now."
The Last Recruit

:( Which is Jack, undoubtedly. And that's no good. But sometimes you have to poison the enemy from the inside questionmark???

Looks like you two have a lot of catching up to do.

Ben to the EMTs: "Where's his wheelchair?"
EMT: "Smashed to pieces...probably saved his life."
Interesting thing to say??
In addition to the juxtaposition of a Ben rooting for John to live, rather than throwing a cord around his neck, this incident is where the pieces start falling into place...

--Kate to Sawyer--

Sawyer: "Want an apple?"
Tempting like the devil?? Or like a Adam and Eve role reversal?

Sawyer: "You don't strike me as the murdering kind."
Kate: "That's because I'm not."
She's said this a few times now and part of me wonders if she really didn't murder her step-father turned father here in Sideways.

Sawyer: "You remember me? The airport? Don't you think it's weird? A week later, boom, of all the cars in Los Angeles, you smash into mine. Almost like someone's trying to put us together."
You know it, dude!!

--Sawyer to Sayid--

Sayid: "Everything will be ok for you now. I took care of it."
Nadia: "Did you hurt someone?"
Sayid: "I'm leaving and I'll never be able to come back again."

--Dez to Claire--

Dez: "I couldn't help noticing you're going to an adoption agency, alone. You should have some legal representation. Adoption contracts are complicated. You could find yourself in a situation that's irreversible. This attorney I'm seeing, she's excellent, plus she owes me a favor."
Favor?
Dez: "Claire this is Ilana."
Ilana: "I'm sorry Claire Littleton from Australia? This is quite a coincidence...We've been looking for you."

--Claire to Jack--

Ilana: "Mr. Shepherd...I've got a surprise for you, do you believe in fate? ..."
Jack: "You found her."
Ilana: "Actually she found us."
Actually Desmond found all y'all.

--Jack to Sun, Jin, and Locke--

Jack to the Hospital: "No it's not a very good time, yes, they can go ahead and prep him."
...
Jin: "You're going to be ok."
Sun: "And the baby?"
Jin: "The baby is going to be fine. It's over...we're all going to be ok."

IS IT?? Because WHAT did Sun gasp when she saw Locke earlier in the neighboring gurney?
Sun: "No...no! It's him it's him!"

I do believe that in her in-and-out of consciousness, Sun connected with the Island World and what was going on there with MIB. The fact that she's in the room right next to Locke will probably play a key role very soon......good thing she can speak English and explain it all to Jack :\

Surgeon: "It's bad. The victim was already in a wheelchair. Pre-existing spinal condition."
Jack: "I got this."
Surgeon: "What is it?"
Jack: "I think I know this guy."

I think we have some catching up to do.

Jack: "What bothers me is that I don't have any idea what you are? Why John Locke?"
Smlocke: "He was stupid enough to believe that he'd been brought here for a reason."
Jack: "He had to be dead before you could look like him. Who else have you looked like? I chased my father through the jungle...was that you?"
Smlocke: "Yes that was me. You needed to find water. This may be hard for you to believe, but all I've ever been interested in is helping you......to leave."

Smlocke: "But because Jacob CHOSE you, you were trapped on this Island, before you even got here."
MIB fully admitted his knowledge of Jack being one of the Chosen, and that he WAS Chosen long before they all crashed there.

Smlocke: "Now Jacob's dead, we don't have to be trapped any more. We can get on a plane and fly away whenever we want to."
Jack: "If we can fly away whenever we want why are you still here?"
Smlocke: "Because it has to be all of us."
You keep SAYING that. Stop SAYING that.

Jack: "John Locke was the only one who ever believed in this place."
Smlocke: "John Locke was not a believer...he was a sucker."
BURN.
You know what's weird about this show? Weird and awesome?? The fact that in one World I can really love a character, and in another, hate their guts. Like Claire, for example. Over in Sideways, she's so cute with her big pregger belly and bewildered blue eyes. But on the Island I want to punch her in the face. Meanwhile, I REALLY loath Smlocke. He's so SMARMY, I want to wipe that grin right off his face. But then I think back to John Locke the Believer...and I feel really bad :( I miss that guy!

Claire: "Did he tell you he was pretending to be our father? Now that you're here, it's good to see you. It really means a lot that you're coming with us."
Jack: "I haven't decided."
Claire: "Yeah you have. You decided the moment you let him talk to you, just like the rest of us. Whether you like it or not, you're with him now."

Jack: "How long have you been with Locke?"
Claire: "Ever since you left."
Jack: "So you trust him?"
Claire: "He's the only one who didn't abandon me."

Kate: "We're leaving the Island."
Claire: "Then why aren't you waiting for John?"
Kate: "That's not John. Claire, come with us. I came back to get you so you could be with [Aaron] again...that's the only reason I came back to the Island."
Claire: "[MIB] finds out we're gone...he's gonna be mad."

Sawyer: "Sayid ain't invited, he's gone over to the Dark Side."
Ahh but has he completely??

Hurley: "But you can bring people back from the Dark Side...there's Anakin..."
Yes, that's more like it!

Dez: "So what did he offer you? If you're gonna shoot me in cold blood brotha, I have a right to know...what did you lose?"
Sayid: "The woman I loved."
Dez: "Where is she now?"
Sayid: "Dead."
Dez: "What makes you think Locke can bring her back?"
Sayid: "I died and he brought me back."
Dez: "So what will you tell her? When she asks you what you did to be with her again?"

Desmond sure is convincing. And I bet he just talked his way out of a well and shot to the brain area. Because Sayid, seriously, you gotta think. Do you really think you and your brooding darkness are going to make for a very loving mate after all of this?

Smlocke: "Sayid where have you been?"
Sayid: "Doing what you asked. I just shot an unarmed man, I needed a moment. Go and check if you like."

Sawyer: "Didn't think you'd show up, Doc. Taking orders ain't your strong suit. Nice to see you finally came around."
Jack: "Doesn't feel right...leaving the Island. I remember how I felt last time I left...like a part of me was missing. We were brought here because we were supposed to do something. If that thing wants us to leave? Maybe he's afraid of what happens if we stay."

This is the part of the puzzle I'm having trouble with. If Sawyer stopped and thought for two seconds, he would agree with Jack. But I don't think Sawyer has seen enough of Smokey. I don't think he's had the same experience with the Evilness. Because if he had, he'd be very wary of Smlocke's obsession with getting off the Island. Because hello? Anything he wants to do? You do the opposite!

Jack: "The Island's not done with us yet."
Sawyer: "Well I'm done with this Island. If you want to take a leap of Faith, you take it."

Ok it might be a stretch, but this little Overboard Moment reminded me quite a bit of the time Sawyer jumped helicopter. Seemingly stupid, but both left their friends for the Greater Good. Well...hopefully....?
Sawyer: "We're done going back, Kate."

And after Sun and Jin's FREAKING FINALLY REUNION, and Sun regains her English, we get quite the plot twist....

Sawyer: "We had a deal!"
Zoe: "Deal's off."
Zoe to Widmore: "We got 'em, if you got a sight line on Locke? Fire when ready."

So many of you may have been left with an unsatisfying WHAT THE?!? OVER?! when the LOST logo thundered at the screen. Suddenly there are a lot of pieces unraveling......yet raveling all at the same time. In other words, while everyone seems scattered and the questions are bubbling to a massive boil, the pieces are there and they are very much coming together. When Worlds Collide.
I think the Dying Locke scene is going to extend itself obviously into the next episode, but perhaps into a few episodes, if not until the END of the series. Locke's life will hang in the balance and MIB's life might somehow depend on Locke's existence in Sideways. Something along the lines of: If Locke dies, then he never exists in Island World. OR what if it's the complete opposite. What if Jack is supposed to save Locke in Sideways to save everyone else? GAH! Darnit Lost with your It Could Be Anything realm of possibilities!!!! But we DO know that Jack--the most probable Final Candidate--will have a very key role in this event on BOTH sides of the coin. And a Smlocke divided against itself CANNOT stand.

Egg flavored Koolaid

The only real egg was that Ilana's law office was on the 15th floor. But also, the name of the lawfirm is Sweetzer and Verdansky. Verdansky is Ilana's last name, and if you switch two letters around you've got Vernadsky. Vladimir Vernadsky is considered one of the founders of geochemistry, biogeochemistry, and of radiogeology. Even more interesting is that Sweetzer, if you recall, is the name of one of the crossroads of the cafe that Penny suggested she meet Dez. (Sweetzer and Monroe)

But I also want to quickly delve into this little nugget from Sawyer:
"That's before she started drinking Locke's Koolaid."
I'm sure we all remember the store of Jim Jones and the "Revolutionary Suicide" that killed over 900 people by way of a scrump cocktail of cyanide and Flavor Ade. If not, let me recap: Jim Jones set up a sort of Communist Utopia in the jungles South America to help his fellow socialist Peoples Templites take refuge from scrutiny in California. Seems like a peaceful solution, right? Well Jim Jones developed a case of paranoiditis and things sort of crumbled from there. A congressman visited the commune to check out the scene and despite seeing that it was kosher and telling Jones things were a-ok, he left for America with a few Temple members who decided it wasn't for them. That set Jones overboard and he said, "I have failed" and "All is lost." Thus, on the airstrip to leave the commune, the congressmen, journalists and defectors were all were shot and killed by Temple security. The following day, Jones instructed all Peoples Temple members to drink the poison concoction, telling them that they needed to go down in history, chose their own way, and support socialism. Chose their "own way" by choosing Jones' way.

Not the best bedtime story, now is it? But it does make you think about our own Lost jungle and the pursuit of a better life. And how quickly and easily it can all go wrong.

Next week, The Candidate. Will the Candidate and the Last Recruit be the same person??? I'm lovin' this laid back, takin' orders, jumpin' off the boat Jack. He seems much more Candidate-ish than the Live Together Die Alone bully know-it-all we once knew. He's much more open to interpretation.

Additionally, your 'Cap 'Cappin' Cap'n is on roadtrip vacay next week! Never fear, however, as I will try my little Lost Lovin' heart out to get some wifi action somewhere along Route 66. Might be a little on the late side ;) ...Until then!

Your Weekly "Lost"-cap: Everybody Loves Hugo

katesi4 — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:53:17 GMT

In a world full of conflict and strife there is one thing we can agree on....
Everybody Loves Hugo

I'm starting to notice a bit of a pattern here in Sideways, CA. Everyone is loveless. Now back in the Island World, everyone was pretty loveless too. But it almost feels more pronounced here. Hurley's mother complained about it and tried to sick a woman named Rosalita on him. Dezzie didn't even know of Penny's existence before Charlie came into the picture. Charlie didn't know of Claire's existence until he almost choked to death on a heroin bag. Sayid's love Nadia is shacking up with his brother. Jack's divorced and Kate and Sawyer are lost causes per usual. The only one who seems to have a successful healthy relationship is Locke and now he's roadkill. To me it seems as though love will be the central theme, the rug that ties the room together, the power that wins when push comes to shove. I don't know...streams of consciousness...that's all.

You've got a little Arzt on you

Hurley at Libby's grave: "A lot of people have come and talked to me after they've gone...it'd be nice if you could too."
...
Hurley: "What are you doing here?"
Michael: "I'm here to stop you from gettin' everyone killed."
Hurley: "Why should I trust you?"
Michael: "People are going to die, a lot of people and it's going to be your fault...because people are listening to you now."

Ilana: "You have to trust me, I've been training my whole life for this...to protect you. With that plane gone, that thing won't be able to leave the island."
Hurley: "Yeah neither will we..."
Ilana: "Nothing is more important that this. That thing is evil and God help us if it ever leaves this Island because--"....kaboom.

First God reference...God in a positive light.

Ben: "Makes you think doesn't it? Ilana...there she was, hand picked by Jacob, trained to come and protect you Candidates. No sooner does she tell you who you are, then she blows up. The Island was done with her. Makes you wonder what's going to happen when it's done with us."

Between Ilana exploding and the Whispers/Michael telling Hurley to see the Man in Black...clearly this Island didn't want things to go down the way Ilana, Richard, and Co. wanted. And there's no stopping the Island...
Kaboom number two.
Richard: "Why did you do that?!"
Hurley: "I'm protecting us."
Richard: "What are we supposed to do now?! We're dead. We're all dead!"
Miles: "Why did you do that?"
Hurley: "[Michael] told me to stop everyone from blowing up the plane."
Miles: "Does that happen a lot? Dead people yelling at you? And you listen to whatever they say?"
Hurley: "Dead people are more reliable than alive people."

Hurley: "I know what we need to do. We have to go talk to Locke. It's not my idea. Jacob says we have to talk to Locke."
Richard: "Ask him what the Island is. Awhile back Jacob told me what the Island was (cork) and if he's really standing here next to me, just ask him."
Hurley: "I don't have to prove anything to you Richard. You can either come with me or continue to blow stuff up."
Richard: "He's lying. Jacob isn't telling us what to do. If he leaves this island, that's it, it's over."
Miles: "What's over?"
Richard: "EVERYTHING."
Jack: "Sorry Richard, if Jacob says we go talk to Locke, we go talk to Locke."
Sun writes "Did we make a mistake?" And Lapidus says: "Probably."

Meh :( I hope Hurley is right about all this and shows everyone!!

Hurley: "Why did you come with me?"
Jack: "Ever since Juliet died, all I've wanted was to fix it, but I can't ever fix it. You have no idea how hard it is to sit back and listen to other people tell me what to do. Maybe that's the point. Maybe I'm supposed to let go."

It's very true that, ever since the bomb, Jack has stepped aside. He's given up his role as leader in exchange for a role as listener. And hopefully this will come in handy in a key event to come. More on that at the end of the 'Cap!

~~~Whispers~~~
Hurley: "I think I know what these things are! Hey are you around? Michael?...You're stuck on the Island aren't you?"
Michael: "Because of what I did."
Hurley: "There are others out here like you..that's what the whispers are?"
Michael: "Yeah we're the ones that can't move on."
Hurley: "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
Michael: "Don't get yourself killed."
I may have heard a groaning mumble go 'round the world after this. Lately we've been getting the impression that the Island may INDEED be a Purgatory type of place...something the writers told Lost fans the Island was NOT way back in the day. But here we have Michael telling Hurley that he's one of many who "can't move on" after he's died. If that doesn't scream Purgatory, I don't know what does! But check this out. A few weeks ago, my mom gave me a book called Reconciled by the Light by Ron Pappalardo. In the book, my mom's friend's husband writes about his son who commit suicide at age 17. Ron starts communicating with mediums who were able to connect to his son. The experiences are remarkable! These mediums mention things about his son they couldn't possibly know. In any case, through the mediums, this boy describes the afterlife and how it's kind of what we imagine Purgatory to be. Because he killed himself, he has to "stay behind" and heal, learn from his mistake, as well as help others who suffered the same fate. Anyway, I mention it because I just finished the book a couple days ago. So this scene with Michael and Hurley was particularly striking! This doesn't necessarily mean the Island is Purgatory though. Much like people (Dezzie, Brandon, Minkowski) got stuck in time, perhaps people just got stuck on the Island. Marooned permanently, unless of course they have a chance of getting unstuck. But by whom? Either Michael is fighting for the good side and may be able to escape the Island and pass to a heaven beyond if MIB is contained. OR Michael is fighting for the bad side (aaaagain) and can only pass on if MIB escapes. It did appear as though Michael was truly sorry for what he had done. "If you ever do see Libby again, tell her I'm very sorry."

Kate: "What are we waiting for?"
Smlocke: "You were only able to come back because you did it together. If we're gonna get on that plane and leave, it has to happen the same way. We're waiting for your friends to get here...Hugo, Sun, Jack...That's the only way we're getting off this God-forsaken rock."

Second God reference by Smlocke...God in a negative light.

Smlocke: "Why did Charles Widmore bring you back to the Island?"
Dez: "You'd have to ask him. They threw me in a wood shack and blasted me with a massive amount of electromagnetism."
Smlocke: "How can you be sure?"
Dez: "Experience."
Smlocke: "Do you know who I am?"
Dez: "Of course. You're John Locke."
Smlocke: "There's something I'd like to show you."

Desmond is far too cool, calm, and collected, which makes us realize that he undoubtedly knows EVERYTHING that's going on here.

Smlocke: "How long were you down in that hatch pushing that button?"
Dez: "Three years."
Smlocke: "And here you are back for more. If I didn't know better, I'd say this Island has it in for you."
Dez: "There's nothing special about me brother. This Island has it in for all of us."

Random boy appears to Smlocke once again.
Smlocke: "Ignore him."
Dez: "Do you know that boy?"
Smlocke: "I said ignore him!"

If you recall, this boy appeared in The Substitute to Smlocke and Richard, arms covered in blood (Richard didn't see him), and Smlocke and Sawyer (Sawyer did). The boy said "You know the rules, you can't kill him" to which Smlocke replied "Don't tell me what I can't do!!!" Classic. Obvi question is.....Who is he? Blonde reminds us of Jacob, could this be him as a boy? Is it someone MIB is related to, a son? Did the bloody arms from the other episode recall some sort of horrible accident?

Smlocke: "Do you have any idea how old this well is? It's so old the people that dug this well did it completely by hand. They weren't looking for water...they were looking for answers. Places like the one we're standing made compass needles spin...the people holding the compasses needed to know why so they dug."
Dez: "Did they find what they were looking for?"
Smlocke: "No...the reason I wanted you to see this because Widmore isn't interested in answers, he's interested in power. He brought you back to this Island so you could help him find what HE'S looking for. After all, this isn't the only well."
Dez: "That's the reason you wanted me to see this."
Smlocke: "Why aren't you afraid?"
Dez: "What is the point in being afraid?"

Smlocke you SUCK!!! Dez find the Donkey Wheel!!! Oh and what's with "this isn't the only well"?? So are we to assume that this might not be Donkey Wheel well? BUT perhaps there are a chain of tunnels that will lead Dez to the Orchid (where Ben had access to it)?

Creepy Sayid: "How's our friend?"
Smlocke: "We don't have to worry about him anymore."
Yuck.
Smlocke: "Hello Jack."
Yuck more.

Oh you know we got the Human Fund next Saturday...

Meanwhile, back at the Man of the Year Hugo Reyes Paleontology Wing opening at the Golden State Natural History Museum ...When the speech first began and I recognized Chang's voice I was whisked away to Dharma Days, and for a split second I thought he was presenting Hurley at a Dharma meeting back in the '70s! But then it turns out Hurley is the Ray Kroc of chicken. Or like a mysterious super-tonic of Ray, Colonel Sanders, and Rockefeller??

Hurley: "I'm too busy to meet someone."
Mrs. Reyes: "You're not too busy, you're too scared."

But you're never too busy to meet, or re-meet Libby! Over at Spanish Johnny's...

Hurley: "How did you know my name?"
Libby: "If I tell you, you're going to think I'm crazy....Hugo, do you believe that two people can be connected, like soul mates?....You don't remember me, do you?"
Hurley: "Should I?"
Dr. Brooks: "What are you doing Elizabeth? Are you bothering this man?"
Hurley: "Everything that I said, Hugo, I meant it."

Dez: "I'm sorry have I seen you before?...Were you on Oceanic flight 815?"

Now we see that Desmond has officially become a Sideways World facilitator, a mover and a shaker. It's like a giant game of Memory and Dezzie's flipping over the cards trying to match them all up.

Hurley: I eat what I'm depressed.
Dez: Ah! What's her name?
Hurley: "She's totally awesome, except for one thing. She's crazy! She actually lives in the loony bin. She STARTED sane, but then told me we already knew each other."
Dez: "Tell me something...did you believe her when she said she knew you?"
Hurley: "Yeah kinda."
Dez: "I say go with you gut. Maybe you should try to find out where she thinks she knew you from before you give up on her."

You don't have any blankets?

Dr. Brooks: "She has issues with reality."
...
Libby: "You remembered?"
Hurley: "No, I'm sorry."
Libby: "Then why are you here?
Hurley: "Where is it you think you know me from?"
Libby: "A few days ago, one of you commercials came on, and when I saw you it's like I was hit over the head, all these memories came washing back of my life, only it was...another life. There was a plane crash and I was on an Island."
Hurley: "And I was there?"
Libby: "I think so...we knew each other...liked each other. And then when I got here, it was like I was here before and I have a memory of you being here too. I had to talk to you because if you remember me......"
Hurley: "I wish I could...It takes a lot of guts to go up to some stranger and tell them you know them from some bizarro alternate universe."
Oh I'll get to that bizarro alternate universe thing in a sec, but first I just wanted to refresh everyone's memory and travel back to the episode Dave. Remember Hurley's slipper and bathrobe-wearing bald friend? In that episode, Dave was tooling around the Island trying to convince Hurley he was real and that everything around him--the Island, the people--is all fake. Dave tried convincing Hurley to jump off a cliff in order to escape from the fake world. Libby caught Hurley and convinced him that she--and the rest of the Island--were indeed real. Hurley said there's no way it could be real because a girl like Libby would never fall for someone like him. He even says "Remember when I said I knew you from somewhere? Well maybe I made it up." To convince him further still, Libby kisses Hurley and that, in essence, seals their fate. Sound familiar?

Hurley: "Do you ever get outta here? Like a day pass? Would you like to do something?"
Libby: "You mean like a date? I'd love that."
...
Hurley: "I got like six different kinds of cheeses. Something wrong?"
Libby: "No not wrong, just...off. Being here with you feels so familiar, it's like a date we've never had. Why do you even want to be with me?"
Hurley: "Why would you want to be with me?"
Libby: "I want to be with you because I like you."
...
Hurley: "I think I'm remembering stuff!"
Desmond: my work here is done!
Oh WAIT just kidding, one more thing on the to-do list.......

Anyway, with this merging of multiverses, I had to google "merging multiverses" and found the following:

"In the beginning, there were two genderless entities, the Brothers. They were the Yin and Yang, Good and Evil...Once before they came together in battle, unleashing forces that ended and then began creation all over again. In the explosion of death and rebirth, the entities were blasted apart -- their shattered essence fractured the new-born universe into a pair of 'multiverses.'....Fragments of their essence blew in all directions, and as the multiverses spread outward, so did the entities [inside the multiverses]. It took them eons just to remember they had consciousness, and after all that time their memory of each other had vanished. Due to recent cosmos-shaking events that tore the fabric of the multiverses and redefined reality, the entities became aware of each other once more. ...But in observing and understanding the existence of their respective cosmic guardians, the entities reached a solution....Realizing the futility of a head-to-head battle, the entities instead chose to pit their respective beings against each other in a war to end all wars and to end one multiverse. Also, if [these beings] refused, the Brothers would go to war, and all would be destroyed. Apparently, the Brothers decided to settle things their own way instead of waiting for the battles to finish...So they seemed to merge, creating a single universe out of the two, the Amalgam universe."
Fuuuuuuunnnn hey?! Gotta love DC vs Marvel (http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/brothers.htm)

Leggo of my eggo

- 42 was Dezzie's Mr. Cluck order number, and it's also the answer to Life (thanks for all the fish)

- Connect Four (which was played by the guy--Leonard Simms--who muttering The Numbers back when Hurley was in Santa Rosa). It has 42 spots to put pieces in.

- Box Squared - This photo was featured when Dr. Chang said "Hospitals" in the list of Hurley's philanthropy projects. But it's actually the name of the Box company from which Locke was fired.

- The chalk drawing in rec room at Santa Rosa is kinda similar to the one from when Abbadon visited Hurley in The Beginning of the End...features an Island and a Shark, but this one also has a Black Swan and Pacman eating a butterfly!

- Funny when Dezzie was standing next to the "Outback Roasters" Aussie chicken poster in Mr. Cluck. They're a "Walkabout in your mouth"!

- Spanish Johnny - In The Boss's song "Incident on 57th Street" (from The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle), Spanish Johnny is "dressed just like dynamite," has trouble finding a lady until he meets "Puerto Rican Jane." The very next song on the album is called "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" and a story of forbidden love. "You pick up Little Dynamite, I'm gonna pick up Little Gun."

Sawyer's Book Corner

Notes from the Underground by Dostoyevsky (who wrote Crime and Punishment)
The title is also translated into English as Letters from the Underworld, the story is told from the point of view of a self-loathing, bitter man, writing some kind of misanthropic memoir explaining his alienation from society. He pretty much hates people, but recognizes that he himself is lazy and spiteful. He criticizes and insults his acquaintances, while totally craving their friendship and attention. He wants their apology, or at least get in a fistfight...because it would be "real." There aren't enough hours in the day to break down this novel's true core, but here are a few tidbits:
-The man describes War as everyone's rebellion AGAINST the assumption that everything needs to happen for a reason. He believes that humans do things WITHOUT reason, and this is how history unfolds.
-He points out that, while people think utopia can very simply be attained through reason and awareness of their best interests, this is impossible because it is far more important to everyone to exert their free will than it is to put their best interest first. In other words: "I can do this because I can, not because I should."
-He believes the only people who can truly make decisions with confidence are those too close-minded to question themselves.

Tying this into Lost, perhaps we've got ourselves a little Smokey here. Perhaps the Man in Black is simply a bitter dude, who feels completely wronged by Jacob, or someone even higher, OR humanity in general. He simultaneously wants to reach out and connect with the "realness" of the Losties, but wants to see them destroyed because he finds their idealism so annoying. Hmm just a thought. Anyway, after Hurley puts down the book, he picks up a blue satchel full of something....are those the Niki and Paulo diamonds??

Next week! If you know Willy Wonka, then you TOO were freaked out by "The Wondrous Boatride" song in the preview for The Last Recruit, adapted from the Roald Dahl poem "The Rowers":

There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going. There's no knowing where we're rowing or which way the river's flowing. Is it raining, is it snowing? Is a hurricane a-blowing?
Not a speck of light is showing, so the danger must be growing. Are the fires of Hell a-glowing? Is the grisly reaper mowing?
Yes! The danger must be growing for the rowers keep on rowing, and they're certainly not showing any signs that they are slowing!

The Last Recruit doesn't sound like a very happy episode, but it features Jack I believe?? But speaking of, I certainly did NOT like the look Smlockey gave Jack upon entering the camp. Jack even looked pretty bewildered and sick to his stumy! So let me guess...Locke Roadkill will head off to St. Sebastian where Jack will be there to save his life. Only Dezzie's gotta stop it somehow and "show" Jack the way! I wonder who Jack's constant will be????

Your Weekly "Lost"-cap: Happily Ever After

katesi4 — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:09:00 GMT

Aaaaaaand spent! This 'Cap is quite a bit late with a scoop of extra stream-of-consciousness, so please forgive me, but we've got ourselves deep into the unraveling of a six-year television series about some crazyass stuff! It's getting tough to collect one's thoughts!

Happily Ever After
aka The Constant Part Two

Guess you won't need the bunny.

Zoe: "You're not in the hospital anymore Mr. Hume..."
Dez: "I want to see Penny!"
Widmore: "That's not going to be possible Desmond. You were shot by Benjamin Linus. I didn't have a chance to explain. I brought you back to the Island. I can't imagine how you must be feeling--"
Dez: "YOU TAKE ME BACK."
Widmore: "I can't take you back. The Island isn't done with you yet."

Echoing, as I said last week, the words of Eloise in the Lamp Post.

Jin: "What is Desmond doing here?"
Widmore: "It'll be easier to show you than to tell you. Take him with you to the Generator Room, so we can't start the test."
Zoe: "That test isn't scheduled until tomorrow..."
Seamus: "We're not even close to being ready, that Generator probably hasn't run in 20 years."

Ok now Magic Box questionmark??? Remember when Anthony Cooper randomly showed up?? In The Man from Tallahassee, Ben said:
"Let me put it so you'll understand. Picture a box. You know something about boxes, don't you John? What if I told you that, somewhere on this island, there is a very large box and whatever you imagined, whatever you wanted to be in it when you opened that box, there it would be? What would you say about that, John?"

Well, I will have you know that the producers said many times that the "box" was simply a metaphor. They even said "It would be kind of silly to walk to the middle of the island and there's a kind of a big large refrigerator box sitting there and Kate's horse comes trotting out...that would be kind of the worst idea in the history of ideas." IS IT???? Because the last time I checked, there was a pretty huge BOX-LIKE crate sitting in the middle of the Island!!!! And while it may not produce the likes of a black horse, I think it's pretty magical. Well as magical as Tesla-esque physics can get. Clearly we have--not a physical teleportation device per se--but definitely some sort of metaphysical transport. A transport to WHAT is the huge question. In any case, I do agree that if it hasn't worked in 20 years, it probably wasn't used by the Others to produce any creatures or Anthony Coopers. But it was most definitely used by Dr. Chang and his crew. Maybe that's how the polar bear got to the desert of Tunisia?

Widmore: "If everything that was told about you is true, you'll be perfectly fine. Once it's over, I'm going to have to ask you to make a sacrifice."
Dez: "What do you know about sacrifice?"
Widmore: "My son died here for the sake of this Island...your wife, my own daughter hates me...and I've never even seen my grandson."

This echos another conversation from The Variable between Charles and Eloise while Desmond is recovering in the hospital after being shot by Ben:
Widmore: "My relationship with Penelope is one of the things I had to sacrifice."
Eloise: "Don't you talk to me about sacrifice, Charles! I had to send MY son back to the Island knowing full well--[he would die]"
Widmore: "It was my son too, Eloise."

Then Charles says to Desmond...
"But if you won't help me, all of it will be for nothing. Everyone will be gone forever."
as well as...
"[Desmond] is the only person in the world who has survived a catastrophic electromagnetic event. I need to know that he can do it again...Or we all die."

Echoing what Eloise herself said to Desmond in the Clock Shop about everyone dying if he didn't do as he was told.

Well, survive Desmond does! Perhaps Eloise was right, THIS is why "pushing that button is the greatest thing" he'll ever do. Being exposed to all that electromagnetism has given him this power, this "talent." Now this begs the question: Which came first, Desmond or the Egg? In other words, was Desmond a key player all along, from the dawn of time, and the reason why Eloise basically forced him to the Island (what I discussed last week) ORRRR was Dez just a pawn? Did he land on the Island and push the button by coincidence, but his experience with the electromagnetism then MAKE him a key player?

I was just on a Ferris wheel...

Minkowski: "If you need anything while you're in town, I know everyone."

Ok despite his being on like AH episode, Minkowski was totally one of my fave side characters, and seeing him AND Mikhail in two weeks is just too much! I love it!! A couple times in this episode Minkowski makes Desmond VERY aware of his indespensibility: "I know everyone." "Anything you need." It's as if Minkowski is the official tour guide in this crazy strange Sideways World.

In any case, if you recall from long ago, Minkowski and his freighter pal Brandon wanted to get a better glimpse of the Island. They took a boat, got too close, and caught a wicked case of time lag. Before we knew it, Minkowski was dead :( Or so we thought. We never really found out what happened to people who got "stuck in time" because Dezzie found his Constant, reconnected with Penny, and all was well. Makes you wonder what happens to people who don't find such success. Could it be that the Sideways Losties are all "stuck in time" and need their Constants to come back?

Like most of the Losties, Desmond has a brand new spankin' lifestyle here in Sideways World! He met Widmore via some other means, clearly not via Penny (who in Island World, met Desmond when she was picking up wine at his monastery).

Widmore: "You really do have the life, son...no family, no commitments...ah to be free of attachments."
Desmond: "I'm a blessed man sir."
Widmore: "It is I who am blessed...a drink to celebrate your indispensability. Nothing's too good for you."

We found out long ago that MacCutcheon whiskey can nab a cool $120 per glass when Sayid ordered the stuff. Long ago--in another lifetime--Widmore explained to Desmond that the whiskey was Admiral MacCutcheon's "crowning achievement" and that "one swallow is more than what [Dez] would make in a month." Widmore then told him that, unlike the Admiral, Desmond would never amount to anything, so he was not only unworthy of Penny, but SO unworthy, he wasn't fit to drink a drop of the precious booze. Here, we find Desmond in quite a different spot. But is he actually happy?

Dez: "Why wouldn't I be?
Charlie: "Have you ever been in love? Spectacular, consciousness-altering love? Do you know what that looks like? I've seen it mate, on the plane back from Sydney."
Dez: "Enlighten me."
Charlie: "...We hit turbulence, I choked, and the entire bag of heroin is stuck in my throat. Everything starts to go dark, slipping into the abyss, and then I see her: blonde, rapturously beautiful, and I know her, we're together, like we've always been and always will be...this feeling, this love. Just for a moment I saw what it looked like. I've seen the truth."

Dez: "You have a choice: If you stay here, it will very very likely result in the extermination of your music career. [Or] In 20 minutes you'll be eating in a five star hotel and Charles Widmore will owe you a favor."
Charlie: "Doesn't really seem like a choice."
Dez: "There's always a choice."

Charlie: "I feel sorry for you, mate. You think you got it all...but you don't."
Dez: "Why because none of it's real?"
Charlie: "How about I offer YOU a choice? I can either show you what I'm talking about, or you can get out of the car?"

And then everything comes to fruition when that car hits the water, Desmond pounds on the window, and Charlie presses his palm to the glass.

All this talk of what's real and what's the truth really got me thinking about Sideways World. Perhaps it is, in fact, all manufactured by what happened after the bomb. It's almost like some sort of huge uterus or life support machine nurturing our Losties until they can figure out what the heck is going on. Like they're living on borrowed time, so to speak, and something artificial is keeping them alive.

Dez: "I need to find someone, he was on our plane, and he's somewhere here in the hospital."
Jack: "Whoa.....He was on our plane and now he's here in the hospital?"
Right???
Charlie: "You saw something didn't you? In the water?"
Dez: "Who's Penny?"
Charlie: "You felt it didn't you? This doesn't matter. None of this matters. All that matters is that we felt it. Start looking for Penny."

You'll need The Button.

Widmore: "My son's a musician. My wife is putting together a charity event and the boy had a crazy idea to combine classical music with modern rock...have you heard of Drive Shaft? Their bass guitarist overdosed and got himself arrested. If I don't get him there, my wife will destroy me."

So we already knew Faraday was Widmore and Eloise's son, but what's this about being a musician??? Later on, we find out he knows NOTHING of Physics! (Until of course he makes a psychic break through to the Island World and jots down some impressive physics jargon.) In any case, what does this particularly KEY difference in Faraday's life say about Sideways World? In the other World, we know that he really did love music (played piano), but was unable to carry on with his love. So, here in Sideways, he perhaps he made this alternative choice, perhaps the choice he always wanted to make. Meanwhile, his parents are together and everything seems pretty honky dory at the Widmore residence. He's definitely not cooped up in some house, his memory completely fried from purple light experiments, bawling his eyes out watching the fake sunken Oceanic 815 airplane....that's for sure. Anyway, I have a point here. For the first half of this season, we've been discussing how Sideways seems like a place where people make better choices and live better lives. Some people. Well Charlie sort of flips this on its head. He's most definitely STILL struggling and was struggling even before he choked on a bag of heroine, met Claire in the abyss, and "saw the light." His life seems like a carbon copy of his life on Island World: a strung out, has-been, sell out, playing rich people's parties for drug money. Why is his life virtually the same while so many other Losties' lives are different?

Meanwhile, so remember in The Variable, when a young Daniel was playing piano and Eloise told him: "Destiny means that if one has a special gift, then it must be nurtured. Your gift is your mind, meant for science, mathematics. And it's my JOB to keep you on that path. "
So to add more confusion to this Constant/Variable equation, it seems like Eloise wanted Daniel to be a physicist, but here in Sideways, CA, she's happy as a clam that he's a musician. And CLEARLY she don't want no one to go messin' with it either!

Minkowski: "So you never met the boss's wife? Good luck."
Enter Eloise.
Eloise: "It's a travesty we haven't met before. It's about time. So what crisis forced Charles to send his best fix-it man?"
Dez: "I'm deeply sorry, but Drive Shaft won't be able to perform along side your son."
Eloise: "Don't worry about it. My son will understand."
Dez: "You're not angry?"
Eloise: "What happened, happened."

Staff: "Milton, Penny - solo."
Dez: "Did you just say Penny? May I see the list?"
Eloise: "That list is confidential. You listen to me. I want you to stop."
Dez: "Stop what?"
Eloise: "Someone has clearly affected the way you see things, this is a serious problem. It is, in fact, a violation."
A violation of what?!! Of some treaty or agreement about crossing into other Worlds???
Dez: "Do you know what I'm looking for?"
Eloise: "You have the perfect life. You've managed to attain the one thing you've wanted more than anything...my husband's approval."

But that's not what Dezzie ever really wanted! He was practically forced to get Widmore's approval so he could be with Penny. Without Penny, there's no need for Widmore's approval!

Dez: "You need to tell me why I can't [see the list]."
Eloise: "You can't because you're not ready yet, Desmond."
Enter Faraday.
"My name is Daniel Widmore. We need to talk. Do you believe in love at first sight?"
Enter Charlotte. Ok not yet.
Daniel: "The first time I saw her she was walking through this museum, eating a chocolate bar..."
"Not allowed to have chocolate before dinner."
"She has these incredible blue eyes, red hair. As soon as I saw her, it was like I already loved her. That's when things got weird. That same night, I woke up and I wrote this..."
Dez: "What is it?"
Daniel: "I'm a musician, I have no idea. I took it to a friend of mine and he said this is quantum mechanics. These equations are so advanced only someone who had been studying physics their entire life could come up with it. Imagine something terrible is about to happen, and the only way to stop it, was by releasing a huge amount of energy...like setting off a nuclear bomb."
Dez: "You want to set off a nuclear bomb?"
Daniel: "What if all this wasn't supposed to be our life? What if we had some other life, and for some reason we changed things? I don't want to set off a nuclear bomb, Mr. Hume. I think I already did."
Dez: "I don't know what any of this has to do with me."
Daniel: "Why did you ask about a woman named Penny? It happened to you too. You felt it."
Dez: "I don't know what I felt."
Daniel: "You found love."
Dez: "She's an idea."
Daniel: "No, she's my half-sister. And I can tell you exactly where and when you can find her."
To Aloha Stadium!!

Dazed Dez: "How long was I unconscious?"
Widmore: "No more than a few seconds. I told you, your talent is vital to our mission."
Dazed Dez: "That's alright. I understand. You told me you brought me here to do something very important. When do we start?"
--------
Penny: "I shook your hand, and then you fainted. I must have quite an effect on you. Have we met before?"
Dez: "I think we would've remembered it if we had...Would you like to go for a coffee?"

Minkowski: "Did you find what you were looking for?"
Dez: "Yes I did."
Minkowski: "If there's anything else I can do for you, you just name it."
Dez: "There is one thing, can you get me the manifest from my flight from Sydney? Just the names of passengers? I just need to show them something......."

!!!!!!!!!!

So Dezzie's going to snag himself a List and start connecting all the Losties to their Island World in the great beyond. What does this all mean?? Well, as we all are well aware by this point, if something major doesn't happen in both Worlds, everyone is dead. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm having the toughest time connecting the dots here. Perhaps because this other symbiotic Sideways World exists, there's an even greater possibility that the Man in Black can leak out...they need to close the gap, by finding a way for one World to absorb the Other. I don't know what I'm saying. It's like there's just one little puzzle piece missing and I'm totally not seeing it. Like looking for your sunglasses when they're on top of your head.

I will say, however, that this episode did indeed "change my conversation." I thought things were pretty swell in Sideways and wondered if that's where everyone was SUPPOSED to be. Clearly this isn't the case. Perhaps even though things kinda sucked in Island World, the sucky parts are what made it real.

Desmond or the Eggs

Desmond's eye, twice.

Carousel 4

Widmore's painting - No longer a Polar Bear that says Namaste, but rather a scale with black and white rocks on each side (notice they are of equal weight!) Also in the room is a boat, but probably not the one Desmond sailed on as he got his from Libby.

The Nurse - Speaking of Libby, "Susie Lazenby" who was examining Desmond also worked at the mental hospital and gave Hurley and Libby medication.

Jax - The bar Dez and Charlie went to looked like it had a jackrabbit for a logo...Jax is also the sidekick to Beakman, a crazy, cooky scientist who performs fun experiments to show kids how science works (think Bill Nye). The television show was short lived, but the comic strip "U Can" is probably still in your Sunday paper.

Eloise's broaches - ALWAYS a topic for discussion! This one looks remarkably similar to what was branded onto Juliet. An eight-pointed star represents resurrection/rebirth, which makes sense as to why it was branded to Juliet after she committed murder. The Star of Chaos also has 8 points, however...symbolizing how something can take you in any and every direction.

Coffee shop - Interestingly enough, there isn't a coffee shop on Sweetzer and Melrose, but there is a hotel. An English bungalow style hotel in West Hollywood called.....wait for it.....The Charlie Hotel.

Angstrom - The bunny, saved from being torched--thanks to that lever-pulling idiot who killed Simmons--is undoubtedly named after Harold C. "Rabbit" Angstrom from the John Updike Rabbit series. The books follow the main character through his struggles with life, love, family, death, the usual. He runs away from his problems, into more problems, and then backtracks into the former problems, making quite a mess of things. Throughout the series, Rabbit makes an effort to evolve as a person, but never really accomplishes anything significant, realizes this, and accepts it. The name "Rabbit" may have been chosen because it rhymes with Babbit, a novel written by Sinclair Lewis about a similar type of middle class Everyman. Updike chose "Angstrom" as his last name because it sounds like "stream of angst." Interestingly enough an angstrom is equal to "one one hundred millionth of a centimeter"...apropos for a character who felt insignificant all the time, right? But the unit of measurement is named after Anders Angstrom, a Swedish physicist who studied terrestrial magnetism (FULL circle!) and was one of the early founders of spectroscopy: the study of "visual light dispersed according to its wavelength," i.e. a prism...aka: do you like Pink Floyd? Do you own Dark Side of the Moon? Look at the album cover. Spectroscopy.

Milton - Sounds like Penny's last name is Milton (while she's flying solo for this grand soiree, she might be or have been married at one point).
George Milton is the name of one of the characters in Of Mice and Men (he's the business-minded one who looks after the slower Lennie, eventually shooting him in the head). But more importantly, John Milton is the name of the author who penned the epic poem, Paradise Lost. The poem re-tells the infamous story of the Fall of Man (Adam and Eve's decision to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, which, in essence, gave humanity Free Will, which got them kicked out of Paradise). Milton wrote the poem "to justify the ways of God to men." In other words, to explain the co-existence of a God with eternal foresight with the concept of humanity's freedom of choice. One part of the poem follows Lucifer as he and other rebel angels are cast out of heaven. Lucifer volunteers to go and try to corrupt Adam and Eve--to poison the newly created Earth. Then the poem follows Adam and Eve and their eventual demise. When Eve eats the fruit, Adam knows it's wrong, but eats of it too, saying they are bound by flesh, and that if she dies, he must die also (true love!!) When the two are banished from the Garden, the archangel Michael tells Adam that they may find "A paradise within thee, happier far"...something we ALL work diligently to find in our own lives, far from the Garden. The poem is quite the masterpiece, and gives an interesting alternative view to a story--whether it be true or just a simple bedtime tale--that is so ingrained into our cultural fabric.

Speaking of religion, as it's my strong suit, I think (and clearly write) about it a lot. When I was attending one of my many Triduum Masses this past Easter weekend I was daydreaming about Lost and how it's so much like Life. We go through our years with so many questions: "Why am I here? Why did this happen to me? Where am I going? What does this mean? How is all of this connected? Was that just a coincidence, a red herring, or does it have greater meaning??" It's like 6 years of Lost dragged out over (hopefully) 70+ years! And when we die, it's like this impending series finale: WILL we find out all of our answers??? Maybe not necessarily the smaller answers, like why Ryan Warren's reindeer pencil kissed mine, or why I didn't win that volleyball in the grocery receipts contest...or what the heck a Hurley Bird is.

Maybe--and hopefully--just the big ones.

So YES! Next week, Everybody Loves Hugo, which is a far cry from the Season Two episode Everybody Hates Hugo! We may even FINALLY find out why he's called Hurley. Anyway, thanks for trudging along with me on today's Lostcap journey...it was most certainly a dooze!

Your Weekly "Lost"-cap: The Package

katesi4 — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:32:00 GMT

I cannot conceal my massive amounts of GLEE regarding two of my fave characters ever!!
MmmmmDezzie!!! Now THAT'S a package I'm on board with!
MmmmmMikhail!!! New and improved with BOTH eyes! Well, at least for most of the episode. Interesting to note, however, that in Island World Mikhail probably would've lost his eye in his early Dharma, even pre-Dharma years. The fact that he got shot in the eye in Sideways World LATER makes me think the following: If you continue to choose the bad path, the same bad things will follow you. And even kill you this time around.

This doesn't necessarily explain Sun's undoubtedly dead unborn baby from gunshot wound to the abdomen. "Let's run away. There's something I need you to know--" Oddly enough, there is no sign of her English-speaking Pearl-giving Boy Toy Hotel Owner (due to the fact that she doesn't speak English herself in Sideways World), so clearly she only has eyes for Jin. On a side note, do you remember who else was shot in the stomach on this show?? LIKE EVERYONE!

In any case The Package (Paik's watch gift, Desmond, Sun's uterus) wasn't really wrapped in a neat little package now was it? Let's discuss...

The Package

Jack: "Hurley took us to a lighthouse...there was a mirror. There's a reason--"
Sun: I don't want to hear about how this is our purpose or our destiny!"
Funny that she's saying this to the Man of Science, hey? How things change.

Smlocke to Sun: "I can take you to [Jin]. I would never ask you to do something against your will. Come with me please."
Yeah, we're seeing more and more that while Smlocke seems pretty powerful, and can do some massive damage as the Smoke Monster, he doesn't have complete control. Free will still exists on the Island and Smlocke can't interfere with that. As Jacob explained, he wants to see if MIB is wrong, the humans aren't corruptible after all.

Smlocke to Jin: "The only way we can leave the island is if all the names that haven't been crossed off go together."
MIB doesn't want any Candidates keeping the Jake dream alive on the Island. And isn't it interesting that Smlocke is doing the same thing Locke did back in the Real World? Trying desperately to gather all the Losties together to, well this time LEAVE the Island? I wish Ben would strangle this guy too.

Sayid: "I don't feel anything...anger, happiness, pain."
Smlocke: "Maybe that's best Sayid, it'll help you get through what's coming."
Yuck :(

Sawyer: "I have a deal with Widmore--"
Jin: "It doesn't matter WHO you have a deal with..."
This is so true. I don't think Sawyer even knows what he's doing.

Seamus: "Is this the guy?"
"The Guy" and the fact that they took him from all the other Losties might mean that Widmore and Co. know he's the Kwon Candidate (as opposed to Sun).

Zoe: "That was weird, huh?"
Jin: "Where am I?"
Zoe: "It's called Room 23. The Dharma Initiative was doing experiments on subliminal messaging in here. But you know all about the Dharma Initiative, don't you Mr. Kwon? These are Grid Maps, used to identify pockets of electromagnetism. It sure looks like it's signed [by you]."
This was undoubtedly a map signed by Jin back in his '70s Dharma days.

Richard: "This Man wants to leave the Island and that plane is the only way he's going to do it. We're going to stop him."
Ilana: "How?"
Richard: "We're going to destroy it."
Sun: "I came here to find my husband, not to save the world."

Sun: "[Locke] said he had Jin."
Jack: "Why didn't you go with him?"
Sun: "I don't trust him."
Jack: "Do you trust me?"
YES! Team Jack!
Jack: "I will get you on that plane and as far from this Island as you can get. I promise."

Can't you just turn into smoke, fly your a$$ over the water?

Claire: "Is my name on the wall? You don't need me."
Smlocke: "There's plenty of room on that plane for all of us."
Claire: "Aaron's not going to know me...he thinks Kate's his mother. Is her name on the wall?"
Smlocke: "No, but I need Kate to help me get these people on that plane....but once she does, whatever happens, happens."
Double Yuck :(

Smlocke: "Do you know who I am?"
Widmore: "Obviously you're not John Locke. Everything else I know is a combination of myth, ghost stories and jungle noises in the night."
Smlocke: "I think you know more than that, judging by these pylons. You took one of my people, Jin Kwon."
Widmore: "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Smlocke: "A wise man once said that war was coming to this Island. I think it just got here."

That wise man was Widmore himself. Chuck told REAL Locke back in The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham: "There's a war coming, John. And if you're not back on the Island before that happens, the wrong side is going to win." Weird right??? But now Widmore's trying to STOP Locke, er Smlocke? So that makes me think Widmore really wanted Live Locke on that Island, not Dead Locke. Live Locke was Mega Island Lover and would do anything for the Island! Widmore probably had no idea Ben was going to go and strangle the guy, causing this massive smokey chain of events. ....Or did he?? Gah! So confused.

Widmore: "This wasn't supposed to happen for days, we had a Timetable!"
Zoe: "Maybe you should put a mercenary in charge instead of a geophysicist."
MmmmmPhysicist!!! I would kill for some Faraday action in a future episode...the sooner the better.
Widmore: "Take The Package from the sub and take him to the infirmary."

Widmore to Jin: "I have a daughter too, I know what it's like to be kept apart. The one thing you want is to be reunited with your wife and daughter, but it would be short-lived if that Thing gets off the Island. Everyone we know and love would simply cease to be. I came here to make sure that doesn't happen. I think it's time for you see the Package."
Jin: "What package?"
Widmore: "It's not a what, it's a who."

Smlocke to Sawyer: "When you were over there, you said they were guarding something they didn't want you to see? I don't like secrets."

Zoe: "Obviously I gave him too much. We needed him knocked out for the trip."
Seamus: "Let's go Mr. Hume."

So first off, Dez is the Package, he was probably snagged sometime right after the Lamp Post encounter, drugged, and kept inside the sub's locked room so Widmore could deliver him. I think Widmore knew the entire time--and I'm talkin' the ENTIRE time--that Desmond was a key to the Island. Let's take a trip down memory lane...

The whole reason Desmond came to the Island was because of Penny. From the get-go, Widmore told Dezzie he wasn't good enough for his daughter. So Dez wanted to impress Widmore, maybe earn a higher spot in Chuck's eyes, by sailing in the big race. And Widmore was the one who subtly pushed him to do this. Meanwhile, remember when Eloise Hawking (Chuck's side lover by the by) FREAKED out on Dezzie in the Clock Shop?? She told him that if he proposed to Penny, "Everyone of us is dead..." That's because if Desmond stayed all comfy cozy with Pen, he never would've found the Island...pushed the button...aaaaand become The Package? With all this said, I believe Eloise, and particularly Widmore, knew the whole time how important Desmond was and is to saving not only the Island, but perhaps even the world itself, from the wrath of the Man in Black. If MIB "leaks" out of the Island and into the Real World, like Eloise said, we're all goners.

That's one stubborn tomato, I guess no one told it it was supposed to die.

Jin: "I've missed the meeting at the restaurant."
Sun: "What was the money for?"
Jin: "I don't know. I don't ask your father questions."

Jin: "Two room, no marry."
Wow, I totally missed the boat on this when they were on the plane and in the airport! But Sun is one saucy minx, and we soon realize that they're in a Secret Something'ship nonetheless.

Keamy: "Hiiii...mind if I come in? I think you've got something for me. Your bodyguard is supposed to give me some money."
Keamy: "What's that guy who speaks like nine different languages...Danny's friend?"
Danny Pickett was a 'friend' of Mikhails back in Otherville Days.
Sun: "The money was confiscated at customs. Let us go to the bank, I will give it to you."
Jin: "Promise you won't tell Mr. Paik about us."

Mikhail: "Your father closed the account."
Sun: "Why would he do that?"
Mikhail: "Why do you think?"
WINK WINK...it's like Mikhail wants her to figure it out or something.

Keamy: "I don't think you realize how unhappy Mr. Paik was when he heard you were doing his little girl. That $25K was my fee for popping you. You couldn't resist: The heart wants what the heart wants. I'm sorry, some people just aren't meant to be together."

Is this foreshadowing the fact that Jin and Sun just aren't meant to be? It's like WILL they ever find each other on the Island???? And when they do, will Sun get shot in the stomach and die Shannon/Libby/Ana Lucia/Colleen style?? (By the by, Sun was the one who shot Colleen--Pickett's lady--way back!)

Jin: "Drop [the gun] or I'll kill you."
Mikhail: "I don't think so, if you were the person who did this, you would've shot me already."
This is a key statement from Mikhail as we know Jin in the other world was a cold blooded killer doing Mr. Paik's dirty work (much like Keamy does in Sideways World). So perhaps Jin lead a more innocent life here in this World.

Numbers

"Beautiful ocean view room on the 8th floor...room 842."
Cards: 6, 6, Q, Q, K, K, A, 10, 7 ...Miles and Lapidus are probably playing Rummy
Room 23
"We are the causes of our own suffering." And THAT couldn't be more true if it tried.
"Think about your life."
"Everything changes."
Putting these three Room 23 quotes together, I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes: "Life is not designed for our comfort but for our struggle, for in struggle there is growth." Kinda like last week's "Life ain't as sweet without the sour." Gotta have the bad to know the good. Gotta have the struggle to grow and make progress. Gotta have a little Black in your life to get a little Jacob. What?

With that said, remember "God loves you as he loved Jacob"?? Recalling that little statement got me thinking more about Jacob's role. I'm wondering if Jacob is sort of a rogue "good guy"...maybe like a Robin Hood type? See Biblical Jacob kind of pulled the wool over his dad's eyes (literally) and shafted his brother by pretending to be Esau in order to get the Heir's Blessing. So, not necessarily the most honest dude around. However, Biblical Jacob proceeded to "be fruitful and multiply" into some pretty freaking cool cats like Joseph (think Technicolor Dreamcoat), the guy who basically saved Egypt from starving to death by interpreting the Pharaoh's dreams and urging him to store grain so they would live through the impending famine. Jacob's genealogy also produced Judah, which eventually lead to King David: important to Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions alike (think David and Goliath)...and eventually Jesus Christ himself! The Bible details aren't crucial. My point is that long long ago, LOST Jacob may have deceptively tricked Man in Black, but he did it for the Greater Good. And that's my Jacob Theory for the day. So my Esau--I mean Man in Black Theory is that he got the shaft and he's SUUUUPPPERRR peeved about it. Does this make him the Devil?? Not necessarily. It just makes him crabby. And being crabby for centuries can make a person kinda evil at times.

Next week's episode is called Happily Ever After. In the promo we hear Widmore say: "The island isn't done with you yet." This same phrase was spoken by Eloise Hawking to Desmond at The Lamp Post, when she was showing the other Losties the pendulum. Indeed it isn't, Desmond. Indeed it isn't. So if this next episode follows Dezzie, then Penny, and maybe even Eloise should be in it too, which can only mean one thing...Eloise and Charles' son/Penny's brother/Desmond's bro-in-law might also make a very special appearance. Yeah that's right.

.......O Danny Boy, the mice the mice are calling.......

Your Weekly "Lost"-cap: Ab Aeterno

katesi4 — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:34:48 GMT

A cork that contains a bottle of swirling delicious evil....a solid, symbolic image of what the Island truly is. Richard's story is undoubtedly not unlike many whom Jacob brought to the Island over the past, oh I don't know, several millennia. But there was something different about Richard......

Ab Aeterno

As I said last week, this episode's title is Latin for "since the beginning of time." But further still, and more importantly, I mentioned that, theologically, it is used to refer to something that was created -outside of time-, like the universe. Or perhaps a strange Island that imprisons evil??

His name is Richard Alpert and he is a kind of...adviser.

Jacob: "There are six people I need you to protect...this is what you've been preparing for."
Ilana: "Who are they?"
Jacob: "They are the remaining Candidates."
Ilana: "After I've brought them to the Temple, what do I do?"
Jacob: "Ask Ricardus, he'll know what to do next?"
---
Jack: "Candidates for what?
Sun: "To replace Jacob."
Lapidus: "What do we do now?
Richard: "I have no idea...Everything [Jacob] ever said was a lie. You want to know a secret? You're dead. We're all dead. We're not on an island. We never were. We're in hell. Maybe it's time we started listening to someone else."

Well, Jack seems completely unfazed by the whole Hell idea. Like, 'eh I've been in worse places.' Well, as we later discover, the Island really isn't hell at all, but more of a prison. As well as an experiment. Or rather a ginormous petri dish from which to conduct experiments. And it is this experimentation that makes the parallel between this mythological Jacob world and the scientific Dharma world that much more interesting.

We will always be together.

1867 Tenerife - Canary Islands, Spain

Father: "I cannot grant you absolution for murder. The only way to return to His grace is through penance. You don't have time to do anything, because tomorrow, they're going to hang you. No, my son, I'm afraid the devil waits for you in Hell."

Mr. Widfield: "You're interested in going to the New World? This man is now the property of Captain Magnus Hanso."
HANSO you crazy rascal!!! And Sidebar: if the Black Rock was heading from the Canary Islands in Spain, to the "New World" America, how the heck did it end up waaaaaaaaay over in the Pacific? Well, in an earlier episode, we are to believe that the Black Rock was actually headed for Siam on a trading mission. The Black Rock journal (ledger) was said to have been found by pirates and made its way to Madagascar. This must mean that the journal wasn't on the ship when it crashed. Oddly enough, the journal was found in 1852. The ship crashed waaaay later in 1867 or so. That's either a HUGE blooper on Lost's part, or a strange clue.

Anyway, quick little recap about the Hanso family: the Hanso Foundation finances the Dharma Initiative. Alvar is the current CEO and Magnus the Captain was his grandfather. Tovard is yet another Hanso family member who sold the Black Rock journal at an auction. Widmore won it right before an influential discussion with Dezzie about Penny. Thus, somehow information that Magnus Hanso's Black Rock crashed on a mysterious Island traveled far and wide and down the family line. It's possible that there were clues in the journal about where the Black Rock was headed before the pirates got to it. OR Richard may have mentioned the Island's whereabouts on one of his adventures back to the Real World. Because you know who didn't escape? Captain Hanso himself. You can hear the shipmates discussing it above "Captain Hanso is dead." This makes the fact that the junior Hansos re-discovered the Island even more mysterious. Now let's throw Widmore into the mix as clearly he found out about the Island as well. Who discovered it first? Did Jacob bring Widmore there just as he brought Richard? Is it possible that Richard found Young Widmore in the Real World and brought him to the Island himself? Along with Young Eloise, and the other people who basically formed the Hostiles/Others? And then Hanso found out about it later in his dealings with Widmore? There is one little missing link we have yet to find in this story.

Slave: "The Island is guarded by the Devil."
The statue is actually of Taweret, the hippo-like goddess of childbirth and fertility...hardly the Devil. Unless you're in the delivery room? Ayo!! Sorry.
Now two interesting things:
1. Taweret is often paired ("married") with Apep, the original god of evil. Evil you say? Well, despite this, she is still recognized as a benevolent goddess.
2. At the Big Reveal last year, I thought the statue was the god Sobek, who looks like a crocodile (hippo...croc, you can see where I'd be confused?) Well get this: Taweret is often depicted WITH the god Sobek. And check out what I said about Sobek in The Incident's Lostcap:

Statue!!! It appears to have a crocodile head?? In which case, this could be the god is Sobek: a powerful and frightening god, associated with creation. Later, Sobek became associated with water, produce, and fertility (because of crocodiles residing in the Nile). This THEN morphed into the Egyptian belief that Sobek was the repairer of evil deeds. (Hence his holding the ankh...in this case symbolizing his ability to cure evils.)

The ability to CURE EVILS you say???? The coolest thing is that while Taweret was the wife of Apep the evil god, she was also the one who protected people FROM his evil.....by restraining it, blocking it. Sound vaguely CORKISH to you???

God spared us.

...But alas, Smokers spared only Richard. He must've seen something unique in Richard with all his flashy flashes and chika chika noises...something that he THOUGHT would help him finally escape the Island.

Ricardo: "How are you here?"
Isabella: "We're both dead. We're in Hell. I'm here to save you before he comes back."
Ricardo: "The devil?"
The Man in Black touches Richard's shoulder, much like the touch of Jacob...
Ricardo: "I am in hell?"
MIB: "I'm afraid you are. I was here long before your ship."
Ricardo: "Did you see my wife? The Black Smoke came..."
MIB: "She hasn't come back? That probably means *he has her."
Ricardo: "Who? Please help."
MIB: "I think you know who. Of course I'll help. I want to be free too. I need to know that you will help me. You do anything I ask."
....
MIB: "It's good to see you out of those chains." (remember when Smlocke said the same thing to present-day Richard?)
MIB: "There's only one way to escape from Hell, you're going to have to kill the Devil."

MIB: "Your ship smashed through [the Statue], broke it into pieces. That's where you'll find the Devil. You only have one chance. Do not hesitate. If he speaks it's already too late."
This was what Dogen said to Sayid before sending him off to kill Smlocke.
Ricardo: "How can I kill him, he's Black Smoke?"
MIB: "No...I am."
Ricardo: "My wife was running from you??"
MIB: "She was running from him. I couldn't do anything to stop it. You aren't the only one who lost something. The Devil betrayed me. He took my body, my humanity."
Ricardo: "Murder is wrong, that's what brought me here."
MIB: "You and I can talk all day long about what's right and wrong. The question remains the same: Do you want to see your wife again?"
Notice how eerily similar this whole conversation is to Sayid and his quest to see Nadia again. This dude's got a knack for finding guys with dead wives.

What lies in the shadow of the statue? He who saves us all.

Ricardo: "Are you the Devil?"
Jacob: "No. I'm the one who brought your ship to this island.
Ricardo: "Why?"
Jacob: "Think of this wine as hell. Here it is swirling around in the bottle unable to get out. Because if it did, it would spread. The cork is this Island. It's the only thing keeping the Darkness where it belongs. That man believes everyone is corruptible because it's in their very nature to sin. I bring people here to prove him wrong. When they get here, their past doesn't matter."
Ricardo: "If you brought them here, why didn't you help them?
Jacob: "I wanted them to help themselves...to know the difference between right and wrong without me having to tell them. It's all meaningless if I have to force them to do anything. Why should I step in?"
Ricardo: "If you don't.....he will."

The following bit is The Incident exchange between these two dudes, so you can really grasp what's going on here:

MIB regarding the incoming Black Rock: "I don't have to ask. YOU brought them here. Still trying to prove me wrong, aren't you?
Jacob: "You are wrong."
MIB: "Am I? They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same."
Jacob: "It only ENDS once. Anything that happens before that is just progress."

This statement, "Anything that happens before that is just progress," coupled with "It's all meaningless if I have to force them to do anything" are two of the most important quotes ever uttered in this series.

One might say that progress derives from free will. Because we make choices, we also make mistakes, and these allow us to progress and evolve in life (make new and better choices which lead to a better life). It's like Darwinism: changes and nuances lead to evolution. Anyway, in a nutshell, the Man in Black believes in Original Sin...that we are born with this inherent propensity to do bad things and be corrupt. Jacob, on the other hand, believes the opposite. That perhaps there are things in the world that lead people to do wrong, but not necessarily some dark thing inside with which we were born. He ALSO believes that we have free will. We have the ability to KNOW right from wrong and to choose. Thus begins The Experiment. Jacob now brings people to the Island to prove he's right--without interfering, that's the most important part of this experiment afterall. Jacob doesn't want to meddle. It sort of reminds me of when people say "If there is a God, why would He let so many bad things happen?" Or darker still: "I'll show you a God who falls asleep on the job." (Muse lyric) Now without getting too religousy (aaaagain), it's quite a philosophical conundrum: Would we have free will if a Higher Power stepped in? If a "Jacob" stepped into our lives right now and showed us the "right way," doesn't that mean we really don't have the ability to make our OWN true "choice" in the matter? Anyway, I digress. But I will say that this is all very interesting when we bring in the part about Sideways World. Much of Sideways World is seeing our Losties making better decisions with what the hand they are given. Now what's this supposed to mean exactly? Is this, what Jacob said....progress????

Something else to note: So the title of this episode means "from the beginning" and we definitely get a sense that Jacob v. Man in Black is a "since the dawn of time" battle. Remember Adam and Eve, the skeletons in the cave? It's interesting to think about Adam and Eve being the very first experiments. That this Island was some sort of Garden of Eden and they played the first part in Jacob's hope to prove people can be incorruptible. Then of course Evil tempts Eve and the rest is history....

Jacob: "Do you want a job? If I don't want to step in, maybe you can do it for me. You can be my representative."
Ricardo: "I want my wife back."
Jacob: "Can't."
Ricardo: "Can you absolve me of my sins so I don't go to Hell?"
Jacob: "Can't."
Can't or won't is my question.
Ricardo: "Then I want to live forever."
Jacob: "That I can do."
---
MIB: "If you ever change your mind, my offer still stands."

Open your eyes.

Hurley: "Your wife sent me. She wants to know why you buried her cross."
Isabella: "Close your eyes."
This is the second time this is said in this episode and I can't help but be reminded of the Spanish film, Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos) You probably know it better as Cameron Crowe's remake Vanilla Sky. Both plots follow the story of a man involved with a woman who disfigures him while she tries to commit suicide. After the disfigurement, the man's life goes into a downward spiral, until he falls asleep drunk in the streets. When he wakes up his life has completely, and mysteriously, turned around. Eventually he discovers that on the night he got drunk, he actually commit suicide, but had decided to be cryogenically frozen by a company called Life Extension. Thus, this "better life" he's been living is merely a series of lucid "virtual reality" dreams. At the end of the film, the man decides to choose Real Life instead of the fake perfect one, so to be resurrected, he jumps from a building and "opens his eyes."
This is the part where Evil comes into play. There's a quote in Vanilla Sky that I say all the time. It's pretty much my life motto. "The sweet ain't as sweet without the sour." In other words, you can't truly enjoy the good in life without the bad. If life were perfect, there would be no point because there would be no progress. I mean there would no NEED for progress because you're already at the highest level! So in shuffles the Man in Black to balance things out and make life worth living. Pretty cool. My other fave quote from Vanilla Sky? "Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around." Very Sideways, don't you think?

Eggs

Eye - A classic episode beginner, this time with Ilana's eye.

White rock - reminding us of when Ben killed Jacob and Smlocke went into the little cave to grab said white rock and hurl it into the ocean, leaving the black rock as the designated "winner." These black and white rocks are like pieces in a huge game of Chess.

Butterfly - did you see this little blue guy flutter through the jungle and into the ship while Ricardo was chained up? I'm going to go with this as a subtle reminder of the Butterfly Effect Theory I've mentioned a few times. In other words, one tiny event can change the entire order of history. We're currently trying to figure out if perhaps the Sideways World may be a representative of this huge change in the course. Although it might've been caused by a bigger wing flap, oh say like a donkey wheel making an Island disappear, or perhaps Losties from the future landing in the past.

Luke Chapter 4 - Ricardo has his Bible opened to this particularly significant chapter when he's in jail. Luke 4 opens with the aforementioned story of Jesus being tempted by the Devil in the wilderness. Most exceptionally:
4:5 The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 4:6 The devil said to him, "I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want. 4:7 If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours."
Sound like the Man in Black or what?
Later in Chapter 4, Jesus goes out and teaches as much as he can. In one instance, he happens upon a possessed man:
"4:33 In the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice....4:35 Jesus rebuked him, saying, 'Be silent, and come out of him!' When the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done no harm....4:37 News about [Jesus] went out into every place of the surrounding region."

And while we're back on the Christianity train, the part where Jacob drags Ricardo into the water and dunks him in isn't just reminiscent of the Temple "rebirth," but of Baptism in general. It was as if Jacob was washing away the evilness the Man in Black had distilled in Ricardo.

Ok I will stop my little philosophical self right there as I think we've had enough for the day! But seriously, a watershed episode if I ever saw one. Next week: The Package. Too bad Sawyer already had his centric-episode because that's a package I'd like to see. What? Um, hello! I meant his package of new books he got at the library, gosh!

Your Weekly "Lost"-cap: Recon

katesi4 — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:12:59 GMT

During this episode's trailer, the Leonard Cohen song "Bird on a Wire" plays in the background. Cohen lived on the Greek island Hydra in the '60s. His girlfriend helped him out of his depression by giving him a guitar. He then wrote "Bird on a Wire."

Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free.

Recon

Ava: "I can spot a con man--I'm married to one--so I know all about the Pigeon Drop."
Sawyer: "This is a set up, lady. They don't care about you, they care about your husband. All I have to do is say the magic word."
Ava: "You're a lousy con-man."
James: "LaFleur."

Aaaaaaaaaand Miles. As I mentioned last week, I thought the "Recon" title was in reference to Sawyer's con jobs, but I mentioned Mile's possible association because of Recon, that crazy Peter Gabriel movie where Gabe plays a ghost-listening cop. In any case, Miles and LaFleur are partners once again! As I've mentioned, Season Six seems to be mirroring Season One...Season One's 8th episode was also Sawyer-centric and called Confidence Man. I'll have you know that Sawyer's flashback in that episode ALSO began with him doing some chick. Yes please!

James: "Hello is this Anthony Cooper? We've discovered some unclaimed property...would you verify you were in Alabama in 1976?"
Miles: "Who's Anthony Cooper?"
James: "An old buddy..."
Miles: "Did you see him in Palm Springs? Your trip last weekend?"
Sawyer's pulling a bit of Locke here. Remember when Locke lied at work about his trip to Australia? Just an interest parallel because Anthony Cooper is Locke's father. Hey Sawyer, you should randomly run into Locke at a local bar and get invited to the Big Wedding! Your Anthony Cooper pursuit could end in a Kill Bill-esque blood bath.

Miles: "Get it together cuz you've got a date tonight...[she] works with my dad at the Museum."
Does Dr. Chang work at the Natural History Museum of LA?
Miles: "What is your deal Jim? Do you want to Die Alone?" Nice.

Charlotte to James: "Why did you become a cop?"
James: "Ever seen Bullitt? Steve McQueen flick? I got to a point in my life where I was either going to become a criminal or a cop...so I chose cop."

Not to be confused with the '96 film Bullet staring Mickey Rourke and Tupac, the '68 Steve McQueen film is about a rebellious and borderline-insubordinate cop, Bullitt, who is asked to protect a criminal who stole $2mill, so that a power hungry politician--hoping to look good at an upcoming Senate Hearing--can bring down a mob boss who happens to be the brother of this thief. Got all that? Well, after a fiasco where a police inspector and the thief are shot by some hit-men, the aforementioned politician tries blaming Bullitt. To make a long story short, Bullitt hides the fact that this thief dies from the gunshot in order to eventually prove his theory that the thief isn't the mob boss's brother afterall and it was all a set-up. At the end of the film Bullitt chases and kills the real mobster's brother and life is good.

I think it might be appropriate to mention that in the '96 film Bullet, after Mickey Rourke's character, Bullet, is killed by Drug Lord Tupac, Bullet's brother releases Bullet's pet rat onto Tupac's body and says "Payback's a motherf*er." I mean that's pretty much Lost in a nutshell right?

Miles: "I want to know what you were doing in Australia...you lied to me! We're supposed to trust each other! I'm not your partner anymore."
Sawyer breaks the mirror. Hurley wouldn't be happy.

From the episode Tricia Tanaka is Dead:
Kate to Sawyer: "We could start again - give each other a clean slate."
Sawyer: "Slate...like on Little House."
Kate: "You call it Little House?!"
Indeed! Sawyer is a Little House on the Prairie fan! And by the way who ISN'T?! I got hooked on that show during college summers. Just me, a giant sack of Animal Crackers from Sam's Club, Diet Mt. Dew, and a couple hours of Little House. I'd cry almost every episode. ANYWAY! Sawyer is watching the episode "Remember Me" from the second season. The Ingalls family neighbor is dying of cancer. Lil Laura is scared and sad about the neighbor's imminent death, but Michael Landon always knows the perfect thing to say:
"That's what life's all about...laughin' and lovin' eachother...people aren't really gone when they die. We have all the good memories to sustain us until we see 'em again."
After the neighbor dies, the following poem is read at her funeral:
"Remember Me with smiles and laughter,
for that's the way I'll remember you all.
If you can only remember me with tears,
then don't remember me at all."

Well despite the fact that Sawyer finds his Inner-Landon, and offers up a six pack and a sad sun -yellow la fleur- as a peace offering, Charlotte still says: "You blew it."

Which leads me to Sawyer and his Good Path. Sawyer's life is different because he's a cop, he's not a con-man in Sideways, CA. But is his life really that different? He still aches for his parents' deaths. And Anthony Cooper still remains his Great White Whale. Me thinks we haven't seen the last of Sideways Sawyer. I think his Dr. Linus Crossroads are still to come.

Miles: "Who's Sawyer?"
James: "When I was 9, my father shot my mother and then he killed himself, Sawyer was the reason why....I've been hunting him down since the day I left the Academy. I chased down a lead in Australia, got a name, Anthony Cooper. When I find the right one, I'm going to kill him."

Sidebar: In the flashback of the original Lost World, Sawyer chases a lead to Australia, talks to Christian in a bar, and then murders a guy who he THINKS is Cooper...but isn't at all. Here in Sideways, Sawyer doesn't mention this, nor does he appear distraught like he was lying about it. So don't think he killed any innocent people in Australia, definitely a good thing.

Miles: "Why didn't you tell me any of this?"
James: "I knew you'd try and talk me out of it."
And in classic Lost-fashion, a car smashes itself into an important conversation. This time it's Kate, and Sawyer shoves her against the cages, I mean fence, and probably wants to have his way with her, fish biscuit style.

You make eeeeverrything...groooovy...SMOKE THING!

Claire WTF Moment #1: When Kate sees Claire's boar skull Aaron stand-in.
Claire WTF Moment #2: When Claire holds Kate's hand like a psycho person.
Claire WTF Moment #3: When Claire shoves a knife against Kate's throat and Sayid reacts all lobotomy man.
Kick-A Moment Interlude: When Locke b*tchslaps Claire for the knife incident and says "This is completely inappropriate, honeychild!!"
Claire WTF Moment #4: When Claire cries, hugs, and thankogizes to Kate for taking care of Aaron all these years.
I think that last one was actually serious (I teared up a little). I hope Claire really does see that Kate only tried to help :\ But something tells me she could fly off the handle at a moment's notice.

Smlocke: "I'm sorry...I was the one who told [Claire] that The Others had her baby. Have you ever had an enemy, someone that you needed to hate? She needed something to keep her going. I gave her something to hate. All that anger she had been holding for so long had to go somewhere. I'm sure if you give her time everything will be alright"
Sure.
Smlocke: "You referred to me as a Dead Man, I am not a Dead Man. I know what you're going through. My mother was crazy. A long time ago--before I looked like *this*--I had a mother just like everyone, she was a very disturbed woman, and as a result of that, I had some growing pains...problems I'm still trying to work my way through. Problems that could've been avoided HAD THINGS BEEN DIFFERENT."
Kate: "Why are you telling me this?"
Smlocke: "Because now Aaron has a crazy mother too."

This just in!! Um, Locke ALSO had a crazy mother!!!! Twinsies!! We haven't heard much about Emily lately, but she was hospitalized in Santa Rosa (same as Hurley, Libby...) for schizophrenia.

Sawyer: "How did you know how to rescue everyone from that Smoke Thing?"
Smlocke: "I didn't rescue them. I'm the Smoke Thing."
Sawyer: "You killed all those people?"
Smoke Thing: "They're convinced they're protecting the Island from me when all I want to do is leave. So its either Kill or Be Killed. And I don't want to be Killed."

Does Smokey/Man in Black really want to leave? CAN he leave?? I'm befuddled by this.

Smlocke: "I have reason to believe that some of the other passengers mean to do us all harm. Go over there...do some recon. You are the best liar I ever met. You tell them whatever you need to tell them to gain their trust."
Sawyer: "Why exactly am I doing this again?"
Smlocke: "We fly off this island...and never look back."

When Sawyer arrives on Hydra, he stumbles upon the cages. Ah memories and lust-filled textures and moments. Kate and her sundress with the permeating scent of polar bear poo and fish biscuits....

Tina Fey/Debbie Hunt: "I'm the only one left."
Sawyer: "What happened here?"
Zoe: "We crashed here...I heard screaming...they were all dead."
Sawyer: "You're good sweetheart, but you ain't that good. Who are you?"
...Zoe whistles her own magic word...
Sawyer: "Alright you got me, take me to your leader."

Widmore: "Do you know who I am?"
Sawyer: "Of course I do...you're the fellow who sent a freighter to the Island loaded with guys to kill us all."
Widmore: "It's sad really, how little you actually know."
Sawyer: "Well I know that you murdered all them people out there and dropped them in a ditch."
Widmore: "We didn't murder those people."

He's pretty much right. Ben did. And yes Widmore, it IS sad how little we actually know! So if you want to fill us in, that'd be pretty cool.

Widmore: "Tell me what brought you to over this island."
Sawyer: "John Locke sent me."
Widmore: "John Locke's dead."
Sawyer: "I think we both know the guy I'm talkin' about is not really Locke. I'll tell him the coast is clear...then I'll bring the old man right to your doorstep, then you can kill him."
Widmore: "And what do you want in exchange?"
Sawyer: "One: The people on my boat don't get touched; and two: you give us safe passage off the island."

Sawyer: "I know there's a man over there on that Island that ain't going to let us get on that plane without a fight. They're setting up pylons...the ones that keep out that Smoke Thing."
Or keep him in???
Smoke Thing: "What did you tell them about me?"
Sawyer: "I told them I'd walk you right into your trap."
Smlocke: "I appreciate your loyalty James."
Sawyer: "You said you were going to get me off this Island, a deal's a deal."

The classic Double Con...Sawyer's got traps set up all over the place and as he later tells Kate:
Sawyer: "I ain't runnin' errands for nobody. A guy named Widmore...is here for Locke. I'm going to let them fight it out, and while they've got their hands full of each other, you and me are getting off this Island."
Kate: "Who's going to fly [the plane]?"
Sawyer: "We ain't takin' the plane, Freckles, we're takin' the sub."

Tadow! Sad though because it reminds me of when Sawyer tried leaving the Island with Juliet. It's like he's cheating on her dead body already.

Eggs
Charlie's brother Liam: "I'm looking for my brother, he was arrested at the airport on a drug charge."

Numbers
8:42

Sawyer's Book Corner

Lancelot - Walker Percy
This is the story of a man who kills his wife after finding out his youngest daughter isn't is. He ends up in a mental institution where he relays these events. He becomes obsessed with the immorality and likens it to an overall moral emptiness in society. He is so obsessed, he himself becomes corrupted by it. Sound familiar??

Watership Down - Richard Adam
Sawyer: "What's for dinner?"
Kate: "Rabbit...I think."
This is a repeat appearance of this book on Lost. Below is a segment from the Left Behind Lostcap:

As soon as I saw the rabbit on the cover, I figured it had to be this book. In this story, the main rabbit, Fiver, has a vision that his habitat is going to be destroyed. He and his brother fail to convince the chief rabbit and escape with only a few believers. This group finds a new home at Watership Down, but come to blows with the neighboring habitat, most particularly the tyrannical leader. It is in the political allegory that some people compare this novel to Animal Farm. Also the animals are somewhat anthropomorphized, but don’t go as far as the pigs do in Animal Farm (wear clothing, use human technology, etc.)
This is actually Boone’s book and Boone saw Sawyer reading it in Season One (the episode where Sawyer cons a woman and her husband...but later walks out of the deal when he sees their small boy)
----
Habitat going to be destroyed? Coming to blows with a neighboring Habitat? Political allegory? Well, this--along with all the rabbits--is definitely a significant story in the Lostian scheme of things.

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
This book appeared very briefly in Deux ex Machina. This is the episode where Locke finds out his mother was committed to Santa Rose, ironically enough! The version Sawyer is reading in this episode is the 1976 Commemorative Edition. 1976 eh?

In any case, A Wrinkle in Time is one of the COOOOOLEST Mind-Bending Time-Warp Books of my generation! I was super obsessed with this book as a kid. And looking back, it's probably one of the very first seeds that would grow into my insane Lost Obsession because it was science fictiony and wacky and weird. Anyway, so in the book, three children--Calvin, Meg, and her little bro Charles Wallace--travel through a "tesseract," a 5-D "folding of the fabric time and space," in order to find Meg's and Charles Wallace's scientist father. The "angelic being" that leads the kids on this journey reveals to them that the universe is under attack....from an evil being....called.....you'll never guess.......wait for it......

......The Black Thing! YES Smoke Thing + Man in Black = Black Thing I like it!!!!

Well when the kids peer into this crystal ball, they see the Earth is covered by Darkness that religious figures and philosophers (including Jesus and Buddha) are trying to combat! When the kids rescue Meg and CW's father, lil Charles gets left behind under the mind control of this bodiless telepathic brain called IT, so Meg must go back to rescue him too. She is able to do so because the one thing IT can't handle is the emotion love. Focusing all her love to Charles Widmore, I mean Charles Wallace, she frees him from IT.

Because of the liberal Christian themes in her books, L'Engle is often compared to C.S. Lewis...no not Charlotte Staples Lewis, Clive Staples Lewis, who wrote the Narnia books (remember the lamp post?).

In this book, the tesseract is said to be five-demensional, but WE know the term as the 4-D "hypercube." What I mean is, you can make a 3-D cube by folding up six 2-D squares, right? Well then fold eight 3-D cubes to make the 4-D tesseract. Did you brain melt into your spinal cord yet? Well try this on for size! Go backwards: So unfold a cube in your mind--think of a cardboard box--so it's six 2-D squares that look like a crucifix cross. Well you can do the same with a tesseract hypercube. When unfolded, it looks just like a crucifix cross, but made from eight cubes. So NOW try to make your mind fold this 3-D looking crucifix into itself to create a 4-D hypercube. AAAAAND I think I just blew my own mind! (Seriously though, I learned about this Sophomore year of HS and it's haunted me ever since!)

Next week FINALLY Richard Alpert's episode!!! It's called Ab Aeterno - Latin for "since the beginning of time." Cooool!! Theologically, it is used to refer to something that was created outside of time, like the universe. Creepy!!

Well I don't know about you guys, but these episodes are starting to feel pretty avalanche-ish! This season is gaining speed and gathering its viewers like dumb-struck skiers who don't know which way is up! I'm all about that ride!

In other unrelated news, around 6am this morning, I walked past the neighborhood Irish Pub, which was already aglow. No patrons yet, and instead of shots of whiskey in their hands, the bartenders had Starbucks. Across the street, a man had stumbled and fallen onto the sidewalk and was trying to collect his belongings. It's St. Patty's in Milwaukee, people, look out!

Your Weekly "Lost"-cap: Dr. Linus

katesi4 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:42:10 GMT

Before we begin, here's an important quote from The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham:

Widmore to Locke: "If you do not return to the island, the wrong side will win."

With this said, we know that both Jacob AND the Man in Black are waiting for someone to arrive on the island. One of those someones is clearly Widmore...but is he just one, or both? It's easy to assume Widmore is evil and up to no good, but Lost has never been conventional with its antagonists....case in point...

Dr. Linus

Ben: "Elba is where Napoleon faced his greatest test. What was truly devastating was his loss of power...without any power he was meaningless...he might as have have been dead."
Napoleon's forces were defeated in 1813. When France was invaded the following year, Napoleon was forced to relinquish his power...he was exiled to the island of Elba.
In this episode we have two very clear parallels of a man struggling with power lost and a man struggling with power to gain. I am VERY happy to say that Ben came out on a very good side in both struggles. I gotta say my Lostcap friends, I got pretty emotional during this episode. I may have even cried a little. But we'll get to that later.

Principal Reynolds to Ben: "The club isn't for them, it's for you. The club makes you feel needed."

Ben: "Taking care of the kids, that's what's important. I know you've given up, but I refuse."
Locke: "Maybe you should be the Principal. Sounds like you care about this place."
Ben: "Who's going to listen to me?"
Locke: "I'm listening."
An echo from another time and another place, but this time it rings of good rather than evil.

Holy Crap!!! Moment #1

Ben's freaking DAD!!! NOT a skeleton amongst Dharma beer in an old VW bus!! Sad that he's all O2 tank everywhere, but still, not only does Roger clearly care for his son, but his son cares for him, and quite literally! Instead of gassing Roger with poisonous fumes, Ben changes his oxygen tank with love!

Ben: "I have a doctorate in European History...and yet I'm babysitting burnouts in detention. I can't help thinking that maybe I'm more a loser than any of them."
Sideways or no Sideways, Ben is still the same to the core. He wishes for greater stature in life. Being a high school teacher isn't always enough.
Roger Workman: "This isn't the life I wanted for you Ben...
Unlike on the Island, he cares about his son.
That's why I signed up for that Dharma Initiative...they were decent people, imagine how different our lives would've been if we stayed. Who knows what you'd have become?"

Ok, so now we know officially that Dharma did indeed exist in Sideways World, and that Ben and Roger left. Now a few weeks ago, I postulated that Lil Ben may have left right before the crew detonated Jughead SLASH The Incident. (If you recall, Dr. Chang required the Island be evacuated because of the magnetic instability at the Swan.) So looks like that was the case. Does this mean that the 1974 - 1977 events that we witnessed are connected somehow to Sideways World? OR did Lil Ben leave the island in EVERY timeline, in EVERY scenario that possibly exists out there? Next question is: if this is true, if Lil Ben left every time, could it be true that he returned in certain timelines and didn't return in others? This is all assuming there are all these freaking timelines floating around everywhere confusing all of us to great ends!!

Well, the important thing to take away from this is that in Sideways World, Ben never returned to the island. Clearly they couldn't in Sideways World as it was under water, but Roger didn't seem to give the impression that he knew this.

Holy Crap!!! Moment #2

Alex: "Where were you today? We had to cancel History Club. The AP test is Friday, I was counting on the tutoring."
Ben: "Tomorrow 7am...you bring the coffee."
Alex: "You're the best, Dr. Linus."

I wish I drank coffee in high school! So much more hipster than the Diet Mt. Dew I guzzled every morning. In any case HOLY CRAP! And while Alex is not Ben's makeshift daughter like on the Island, he still, in his own way, looks after here her in Sideways, CA. With that said, yes indeed, Alex and her mother Danielle are living there in Los Angeles as well, along with everyone that has ever had any association with the Island. Which brings me to my NEXT long paragraph:

I'm starting to think that it isn't so much "odd" that all the fun characters we grew to love on the Island are all here in Los Angeles...but RATHER it's actually "odd" all of these Los Angelites ended up on the Island! In other words, it's like Wizard of Oz. Remember how all of Dorothy's friends, family, and even mean old neighbor were characters in the Oz Universe? And at the end, when it was all just a dream, she said "And you were there, and you, and YOU!" It's like that! Only LA is the "Real World" and the Island is "Oz." NOT saying the Island is a dream, because there would be a killing spree if that was the conclusion to this series! But rather that whomever is in charge of this entire event--Jacob perhaps--wanted to gather a group of people together that already had ties in this other World. I don't know...it's like a circular argument and I literally just typed and typed and couldn't go anywhere with it, so I deleted and deleted...and this is what you're getting! Just know that it goes with my theory of this Sideways World being the Real Deal, or at least the better version of the Real Deal. It's a place where good decisions are made and the right path is tread. And with THAT said...

Alex: "Just a test? It's only my entire life. My mom works two jobs just to pay our rent, how am I going to pay for college, let alone Yale?"
Ben: "I'll write you a great letter of recommendation."
Alex: "I need someone that went there, the only one I know is that pervert Principal Reynolds."
Ben: "Has Principal Reynolds done something to you?"

Ben's got himself quite a crossroads here, and we couldn't help but ask ourselves: He *could use this against Reynolds...but will he? Well, in classic Ben Fashion, he does:

Ben: "Could you access someone's email without them knowing?"
Arzt: "You're going after the Big Job aren't you? You had me fooled with that sweater vest. Linus you're a real killer."

But then it backfires:

Ben: "I want you to read something: those are 30 emails that cover a 3 month period."
Reynolds: "What do you want?
Ben: "You're going to resign...and recommend me as your replacement."
Reynolds: "It's a funny thing about recommendations...they work both ways. I will torch Miss Rousseau and her future. Is my job, my power that important to you?"

But like all of our other Losties in Sideways World, Ben makes the right decision. Oh, he still holds power, but in a less obvious way. For while he wasn't officially able to blackmail Reynolds to get the Big Job, he's still able (and probably will be for some time) to do his bidding from the background. Of course in Sideways World, Ben's "bidding" is for good! So instead of Changing the World from behind a school monarch's desk, Ben is working from the trenches.

Speaking of trenches...

He was standing over Jacob's dead body with a bloody dagger, so yeah, I'm pretty sure.

Lapidus: "I was supposed to be flying it. Oceanic 815."
Ben: "And why didn't you?"
Lapidus: "I overslept. Imagine how different my life would be?"
Ben: "How different would it have been? The Island still got you in the end, didn't it?"

Two things: First, I like the echo from what Roger said to Ben: Imagine how different my life would be? And second, the Island DID still get Frank in the end. It was unavoidable...for everyone...everyone that *needed to be on that Island.

Ben: "Ilana's going to murder me for killing Jacob, a man that didn't even care about being killed."
Miles: "No he cared...right up until the second the knife went into his heart...He was hoping he wrong about you."

Perhaps just as Jesus wanted to be wrong about Judas.

The Black Rock

Jack: "Where did you come from?"
Richard: "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Richard to Hurley: "You spoke to Jacob? Whatever he said don't believe him."
Jack: "Where are you going?"
Richard: "There's something I need to do."
Jack: "What?"
Richard: "Die."

As Richard gazes at the chains that once bound him...
Jack: "Been here before?"
Richard: "Today's the first time I've ever come back."
Hurley: "He said he wanted to kill himself."
Richard: "I can't...which is why I want you to do it for me. When Jacob touches you...it's considered a gift. It's not a gift at all...it's a curse."
Richard: "I've devoted my life in service of a man who told me everything was happening for a reason. He had a plan--a plan that I was a part of--and when the time was right, he'd share it with me. I just found out my entire life had no purpose."

First off, don't we all feel this way sometimes? Most of us subscribe to the belief that something bigger than ourselves exists out there. We like to think that everything happens for a reason. And when the Bad Stuff hits the fan, we're like: C'MON!!! And just want to give up on everything, including the Powers That Be. "Forget that Guy, he probably doesn't even exist anyway!" Well, the other day I read a little something about a mom standing outside her son's bedroom door, listening to her baby boy cry in his crib. She dare not enter because she knows he must learn to be alone. But behind the door she whispers to herself: "I'm here. I haven't left you." Bringing this back to Lost, Jacob really does have a plan. It may appear as though he's left everyone to fend for themselves, but he's behind the door. He hasn't left them. I still think Richard will eventually come to know his true meaning in life. And the following little incident probably gave him a little insight already:

Richard: "You should go...you're going to die."
Jack: "I don't think either one of us are going to die. Jacob's Lighthouse...he wanted me to know that he had been watching me ever since I was a kid. If Jacob went to that trouble, that he brought me to this Island for a reason, that is NOT to blow up sitting here with you right now."
Richard: "What if you're wrong?"
Jack: "I'm not."
Richard: "You seem to have all the answers...so now what?"
Jack: "Go back to where we started."

Back in the trenches

Smlocke: "I don't want you to die Ben. I'm gathering a group to leave this place for good. But once we're gone, someone's going to need to be in charge of the Island."
Ben: "Me?"
Smlocke: "I can't think of a better man for the job. Come to the Hydra Station."

Clearly Ben isn't a Candidate anymore, so the Man in Black apparently wants to use him for other purposes. But FINALLY Ben sees his true purpose on the Island...

Ben: "I had a chance to save [Alex] but I chose the Island...over her. All in the name of Jacob. I sacrificed everything for him, and he didn't even care. I do not expect you to forgive me...I can never forgive myself. Let me leave...to Locke."
Ilana: "Why?"
Ben: ".....He's the only one that will have me."
Ilana: ".....I'll have you."

Ok here's the part where my stifled weeping commenced. Mad props to Michael Emerson by the by. I mean everything surrounding this scene was absolutely heartbreaking. You could clearly see that Ben had truly accepted the Epic Damage that was done by his hand...not just Jacob and his daughter's death, but EVERYTHING. And there was no way he could right those wrongs, so he may as well just go with the evil guy and succumb to his future as just another pawn, another henchman. But then Ilana--whom I really loathed the entire episode--well it turns out she has heart and room for Epic Forgiveness for the Epic Damage. She allows him back in. And then we watched him try to re-enter the lives of those he's wrenched for so long...and that microscopic smile Sun allowed to escape her lips as she allows Ben to help her. Classic Lost. Just classic.

We pan back and see a poignant display: the reunion of Losties at the beach where it all began...with Richard and Ben, distanced, on either side. Outsiders looking in, both connected to and separated from these important people. These Candidates.

Ok! Enough of that poetic mumbo jumbo...

Holy Crap!!! Moment #3

Widmore's arrival! Well not necessarily a holy crap moment per se as his arrival was inevitable, but this bodes something interesting at the very least. As I said at the beginning of the 'Cap, something about this makes me think BOTH Jacob and Man in Black are waiting for Widmore. Perhaps this whole eminent "battle" isn't as clear as black and white, good and evil.

Sawyer's Book Corner

Next to Booty Babes, there's a book that appears to be Justice and Truth in Action by Benjamin Disraeli. While I think this was merely a prop rather than an actual book, one of Disraeli's most known quotes is "Justice IS Truth in Action." He also said "Circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our own power." Something that couldn't be more Lostian if it tried. We see it more than ever in the Season Six Sideways World where the Losties seem to have a whole new set of circumstances, but do much better with them.

Disraeli was a prominent British literary and political figure (Prime Minister) in Queen Victoria times. Two interesting things to note (because of two other Eggs in this week's Lostcap): First, Disraeli supported expansion of the British Empire in the Middle East and Central Asia (though dissolved in 1857, before much of his political career, the East Indian Trading Company is mentioned in Ben and Alex's study session). And second, Disraeli is Jewish....
The Chosen by Chaim Potak was the book underneath Disraeli's in Sawyer's Book Nook. This novel follows two friends from two very different backgrounds, one named Reuven, a Modern Orthodox Jew and the other named Danny, a strict Hasidic Jew. Reuven's father wants him to be a mathematician, while Danny's father wants him to become a Rabbi. But of course neither want to follow that path. In the end, Reuven becomes the Rabbi and Danny goes to school to become a psychologist. In Judaism, "Chosenness" is the belief that Jews are the Chosen People of God. I believe in Lost, the parallel to be made is simply that our beloved Losties have, for some reason, been chosen to carry out something very meaningful. Or at least we hope!

East Indian Trading Company - Charter Act of 1813 While Napoleon was being, well, forced to "retire," the East Indian Trading Company gained control of almost all of India. However, this lead to such a strain on the Company's finances that they had to ask for assistance from Parliament. Among other things, the Charter deprived the Company of its Indian trade monopoly except for trade in tea and the trade with China.

Ok!! I believe next week's episode is called Recon, so that can only mean one thing...Sawyer. And I don't know about you, but I'm pretty starved for some Sawyer info. Then again I've been wrong about the "centric" before, so we'll see. The word "recon" is short for "reconnaissance" which more or less means "to gather intelligence in order to gain information about a enemy's intentions." One particular way of gaining this intelligence is via submarine. Recon is also the name of a role-playing military game taking place during Vietnam. And Recon is the name of an obscure short film in which Peter Gabriel of all people plays a cop who can connect to the minds of murder victims...dead people...ghosts. So yeah, maybe we'll get some Miles action in this episode? Until then!

Your Weekly "Lost"-cap

katesi4 — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:48:22 GMT

Well, I'm just going to throw this out there right away...I typically defend Lost all day, everyday, but my first reaction to this episode wasn't necessarily up to par with other episodes, I will fully admit. We didn't really receive the abundance of reveals (as we hungrily expect/were told we'd receive) and the overall mood throughout the episode wasn't happy, no, not at all. Dismal doesn't even cover it. Watching it a second time this morning, however, it settled with me a little more. I think perhaps the general yuck factor was the whole point. I think we're supposed to feel uncomfortable and meh about what's going on here...to set us up for what's to play out in the future. Basically...the Island is like Stephen King's The Stand. Smlocke is Randall Flagg. People are taking sides. Good vs Evil. And there's going to be an Apocalyptic Showdown of epic proportions.

In any case, even a not-so-fab episode of Lost is a pretty good day in my book! Especially when sickie. And I don't need to remind anyone that there are still 10eps + 2hr finale left. That's a boatload of Lost yet to come!

Ok on with it!

Sundown

...Sundown you better take care, if I find you've been creepin' down my back stair.

Sooooo this episode was NOT about Sun like I assumed . However, we did see Jin tied up in a vegetable cooler! This, coupled with the fact that the corresponding First Season episode was entitled "House of the RISING Sun," makes me think they are connected anyway. A quick recap: in that episode, Sun found out that Jin is working for her father in a not so conventional manner...aka, washing blood off his hands in their bathroom. We know back in Islandville, that Keamy the mercenary undoubtedly worked for Widmore (mission: locate and kill Ben). We know Jin worked for Mr. Paik, doing his dirty work. We also know that Widmore and Paik are connected in some way, doing business, shady undoubtedly, together. So let's postulate what might be happening here in Sundown...in Sideways, CA. Perhaps Jin's in that vegetable cooler because of some kind of bad blood between Widmore and Paik. Widmore sent Keamy to take care of it in the likes of holding Jin hostage for whatever reason. (Meanwhile Sayid's brother is just a side-problem.)

Another fun fact: the old song "House of the Rising Sun" is about a brothel...Gordon Lightfoot's song "Sundown" has also been assumed to refer to a...lady of the night, so to speak "I can see her lyin' back in her satin dress, in a room where you do what you don't confess."

Love Triangle

Omer: "You bring flowers for my wife?"

Ok, so in the first few minutes, what differences do we learn about Sideways Sayid? He knows Nadia, and knows her well...not the case in the other Lost World. While we don't know too much about her there, we definitely know she wasn't married to Sayid's brother. It also appears as though Sayid isn't working for the CIA like he was before he crashed on the Island...

Sayid: "Translating contracts for an oil contracts is hardly exotic."

And he's trying to be a good man:

Omer: "I'm in trouble. I borrowed money for the second store...the man said I still owe him interest every month for as long as I own my business. I need you to convince these people to leave me alone. I know what you did in the war. I know what kind of man you are. I know you care about Nadia...you will do this."
Sayid: "I'm not that man anymore."

Nadia: "If you care about me, why did you push me toward your brother?"
Sayid: "The last 12 years, I've been trying to wash my hands of the horrible things I've done. I can't be with you...because I don't deserve you."

So basically here in Sideways, and up until now--since the war--Sayid has been trying to live an honest life. Go down that positive path, like the rest of our Losties look to be doing in their own Sideways Worlds. That is until his run in with Keamy, our mercenary friend, who still looks to be just as big of a jag as ever.

Keamy: "Your brother borrowed money from me. It's a dangerous world. You never know when somebody's just gonna sneak up--"
...Sayid gets crazy....
Keamy: "It's done. Your brother doesn't owe me anything, the debt's forgiven. Just relax and forget about it."
Sayid: "I can't."
And dead.

I want some answers. (don't we all?)

Dogen: "For every man there is a scale, on one side of the scale there is good, on the other side, evil. This machine tells us how the scale is balanced. Yours tipped the wrong way. I think it'd be best if you were dead."

This little dialog reminds me of the book On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony, which follows the character Zane who basically becomes the Grim Reaper. He has to judge the souls of those who are Giant Questionmarks on the good vs evil scale. He uses tools to determine where they fall.

Dogen to Sayid: "Go, leave this place. Never come back."
Dogen's change of heart, from throat slashing to banishment, seems to occur when he sees the baseball fall from the desk. More on that in a bit...

Miles to Sayid: "You were dead for two hours. When you sat up, they were just as surprised as the rest of us. Whatever brought you back...it wasn't them."

Dogen to Sayid: "[Claire's] a confused girl under the influence of an angry man. For years he has been trapped but now Jacob's gone, so he's free. This man will not stop until he has destroyed every living thing on this island. I want you to kill him--If you allow him to speak, it is already too late--You said that there is still good in your soul. Then prove it."

Sayid: "They said you were evil incarnate."
Smlocke: "What if I told you you could have anything you wanted...anything in the entire world."
Sayid: "The only thing I ever wanted...died in my arms and I'll never see it again."
Smlocke: "What if you could?"

Not to get all religiousy on you guys again, but in the world of Christianity it is currently the season of Lent. And the first Sunday of the season of Lent focuses on Jesus' 40 Day 40 Night journey into the desert. And on his journey he encounters the Devil who says the exact same thing to Jesus: you could have anything you want......if you bow down and worship me. So in other words, we get a solid sense that this Man in Black truly is a dark and evil entity, echoing the very words Christians know to be the oldest trick in the book, er Book. "I'll give you anything you want.........if you follow me of course."

Claire: "I'm not the one that needs to be rescued, Kate. He's coming Kate...he's coming and they can't stop him."

Sayid: "There is a man in the jungle. He sent me back to give you a message: Jacob is dead. Because he's gone, none of you have to stay here any longer. You're free. The man that I met is leaving the island forever. Those that want to go with him, should leave the Temple and join him....you have until Sundown."
Cindy: "What if we stay?"
Sayid: "You all die."

Ok back to the baseball...
Dogen: "I was a business man once. One Friday I was promoted...my associates took me out. I had too much to drink. Every Friday I picked my son up from baseball...the accident was very bad. I survived. But my son..."
This is where the baseball fits in as a constant reminder of Dogen's past and what he sacrificed to come here to the Island...
"And then, in the hospital, a man came to me, and he told me that he could save my son's life and that I'd have to come here to this Island, where I'd have a new job. But I could never see my boy again."
Sayid: "Who was this man?"
Dogen: "His name was Jacob. I take it the man outside offered you a similar bargain."

Lennon (post Dogen Death): "What have you done?! He was the only thing keeping it out...you just let it in."
Sayid: "I know."

Sayid pulls an Anakin Skywalker, officially turns to the Darkside, and the proverbial -smoke- hits the fan.

"I make good eggs"

Jack's working when Omer is brought into the hospital.

Sayid gets the kids Boomerangs and Miles plays Solitaire - all the games the Losties have played over the years have been 2+ players...perhaps these scenes are a nod to the fact that suddenly it seems all of our friends are now in an Every Man for Himself situation. They keep getting scattered and separated and are losing touch with the Live Together/Die Alone mantra. The game of Solitaire may also be a wink at Sayid's first character episode entitled Solitary, in which he is asked to torture a woman who turns out to be Nadia. He helps her escape, she gives him her photo with this written on the back: "You will see me in the next life, if not in this one."

That symbol! Ok here's more about the symbol on the escape hatch from the Temple:
It's called a shen ring...the circle part signifies eternity of course, but coupled with the line below it, it symbol signifies protection.

"Catch a Falling Star" makes another UBER creepy appearance when Claire sings it in the hole...and then it plays out all twisted and warped as we watch the evil group band together while Kate looks around completely bewildered.

Next week's episode is called Dr. Linus. And this HAS to be a rad episode as anything and everything Benry always is!