4:12 There's No Place Like Home I, 4:13 There's No Place Like Home II and III

4:12 There's No Place Like Home I

Go here to see my previous post about this episode.

-Another Wizard of Oz reference! After trying lots of different tactics (including killing the Wicked Witch of the West), "There's no place like home" is all Dorothy has to say in order to get back to Kansas.

-Does the Oceanic representative who briefs them on the plane know that their story is a cover? Or has she bought the lie too?

-It stood out to me this time that during the press conference Jack mentions that his father's body was lost during the crash.

-It still cracks me up that Hurley's mom threw him an island theme party. "My mom...really doesn't get it dude."

-At Christian's funeral Jack mentions again that he wasn't able to bury his dad.

-I recently listened to a podcast where someone from the Lost prop department talked about designing the C4 pile on the Kahana. Apparently the producers kept saying "Nope, not big enough." I think it's safe to say they had plenty by the end.

-I wouldn't have recognized the anthuriums either.


Best lines:

CARMEN: Jesus Christ is not a weapon.

4:13 There's No Place Like Home II and III


Go here to see my previous post about this episode.

-The writers did an amazing job with keeping us guessing - since we knew at this point who the Oceanic 6 were, the big mystery was how those particular people get off the Island when for the majority of the finale they aren't in the same places.

-I had forgotten that Locke is the one who tells Jack that he has to lie. Of course, Jack resists, but eventually realizes Locke is right. That doesn't happen very much.

-Poor baby Aaron has never had a real item of clothing. Which is kind of odd if you think about it; I don't think I've ever been on a flight without ANY babies on it.

-The Orchid station video cuts off right at the most interesting part. Of course it does.

-Dr. Edgar Halliwax says not to put anything metal into the vault. So it's basically a giant microwave, huh?

-Sayid kills Sawyer's stalker at Santa Rosa at 8:15.

-It totally bugs me that Jin stayed down below deck with Michael for as long as he did. Dude, your PREGNANT WIFE is on the boat!

-In the future Jack is so angry with Kate for doing a favor for Sawyer, yelling at her "He made his choice, he chose to stay. I'm the one who saved you!" Which is a really douchey thing to say since Sawyer jumped out of the helicopter and stayed behind, saving not just Kate, but ALL of them.

-I hearby predict that Ben will die in season 6. I don't know why, I just have a hunch.

-Is Ben lying when he tells Locke that whoever moves the Island can never come back? Or does he really believe this is true?

-When Ben tells Locke "I'm sorry I made your life so miserable," there seems to be more to this apology than just the present circumstances. Did he have more involvement in Locke's pre-Island life than we're currently aware of? Or is he actually talking about murdering him in the future?

-I really hope we learn more about the Others and how they got to the Island in the first place.

-There is a White Rabbit on Aaron's bedroom door, a replica of an illustration from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". I don't remember it being there in previous episodes.

-Ben climbing down into the hole behind the vault (where white rabbits were used to experiment with time travel) I can't help but think of the phrase "going down the rabbit hole."

-Jack is the most stubborn S.O.B. in history. He SEES the Island disappear - right in front of his face - and he still won't believe it happened.

-I sort of wonder why the Oceanic 6 are so worried about protecting the ones they left behind. They saw the Island disappear, so why do they even think they are still alive?

-Also, since the Island moved it's kind of funny that they bother sailing 3,000 miles away to Membata to begin their cover-up story. For all they know, they're actually closer to the Island there than they were at their start point.

-Ben's vampire-like appearance behind Jack in the funeral parlor made me jump even though I knew it was coming. Uber creepy. And I NEVER would have guessed that Locke was the one in the coffin.

Best lines:

LOCKE: I want you to reconsider leaving the island, Jack. I would like you to stay.

JACK: You'd like me to stay?

LOCKE: Yeah, that's right.

JACK: (Chuckles) You threw a knife into the back of an unarmed woman. You led half of our people across the island and got most of them killed.

LOCKE: Well, Jack, you put a gun to my head and you pulled the trigger. I was hoping we could let bygones be bygones.

--------

LOCKE: It's not an island. It's a place where miracles happen. And--and--if you--if you don't believe that, Jack, if you can't believe that, just wait till you see what I'm about to do.

JACK: There's no such thing as miracles.

LOCKE: Well...we'll just have to see which one of us is right.

4:1 The Beginning of the End, 4:2 Confirmed Dead, 4:3 The Economist, 4:4 Eggtown

4:1 The Beginning of the End


Go here to see my original post on this one.

-The entirety of Jack's psychological well-being can be measured by his beard. We know he's still doing OK (even though he has started drinking) at the start of this episode because he's still beardless.

-The big reveal of this premiere was Hurley yelling "I'm one of the Oceanic Six!" How many nerdy discussions were inspired by that sentence? (I know I contributed to at least a few!)

-When Hurley is being questioned at the police station the officer asks him "You want to know a funny coincidence?" and then tells Hurley about his connection to Ana Lucia. I'm thinking after being on the Island Of Funny Coincidences for 4 months you'd be kind of sick of hearing about them.

-"No Smoking" is painted on the wall of the holding room Hurley is in, predicting that something related to the smoke monster is about to happen, and sure enough, Hurley has a vision of Charlie. On Charlie's hand instead of "Not Penny's Boat" it says "They Need You."

-Again, it's obvious in retrospect that Ben knows the freighter is not there to rescue them, but at the time it was a huge mystery. And it's not our fault - when has Ben ever actually told the truth?

-I can't figure out why Kate is so excited to be rescued; doesn't she realize she's going to jail? Maybe she's decided prison is better than the Island. For that matter, why does Rose seem so happy about it? She's already said she will never leave the Island.

-Mr. Abaddon = uber creepy. It is fun to watch his scene knowing so much more about him now, especially the fact that he is the one who puts the idea in Locke's head to go on a walkabout, which brought him to the Island.

-Hurley hears whispers in the jungle as Jacob's cabin appears. Those pesky whispers - I hope we'll find out what causes them. I wonder why Hurley is able to find the cabin so easily, and why the cabin seems to follow him.

-Right before Hurley flees the cabin we see a close-up of an eye.

I think we all assumed it was Jacob's. But now it's fairly certain that Jacob was not the one in the cabin at all. Ilana says it was being used by someone else. And Jacob has blue eyes. Was it Esau/the man in black? I don't know, to me it kind of looks like Mikhail, but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

-Charlie tells Hurley "I am dead, but I'm also here." Is he referring to alternate timelines?

-It still shocks me when Jack holds that gun to Locke's head and pulls the trigger. WOW.

-There's another "No Smoking" sign in the basketball court where Jack pays Hurley a visit. It seems like poor Hurley is being haunted by Smokey constantly, which would explain his constant visions of dead people - and as Jacob explains in season 5, it makes him special.

4:2 Confirmed Dead

It was so fun getting to know the freighter crew all over again. THIS is how you introduce new characters!

-We still don't know who Daniel's caretaker is, and I'm guessing there's a reason we don't see her face. I have no idea what that reason is, but there you go.

-When Miles comes down the staircase the photos on the wall have all changed since he went up. It could be a production error, but I don't think so since the camera hovers on that wall for a couple of seconds. It has to be intentional. Is this evidence of alternate timelines already showing up?

-After seeing season 5, it's clear that Miles got his gift of communicating with the dead because he was born on the Island.

-If they had left Naomi's body on the Island, unburied, would she have been taken over instead of Locke?

4:3 The Economist


Enter Sayid, international man of mystery! He's such a ladykiller. Literally. (Ba-dum, ching!)

-Naomi's bracelet is signed "R.G." Does anyone think we'll ever find out who R.G. is?

-It drives me CRAZY when Sawyer orders an "expresso." It's "eSpresso" Mr. International!!!

-I've said it before, but why was Naomi looking for Desmond? Why would Widmore want to find him?

-Daniel's experiment is the first concrete evidence that time is different on the Island. Thank you, science.

-Ben's fake ID in his secret room says that his name is Dean Moriarty. He got the name from one of the protagonists of Jack Kerouac's On The Road.

-Sayid says of Ben "The day I start trusting him is the day I will have sold my soul." A very chilling line, since we know that Sayid does end up working for Ben.

-The first clue that Sayid is working for Ben was when he said he was working from a list. I didn't pick up on that the first time, but now it seems obvious.

-Ben's voice is way too easy to identify, even when they try to disguise it. Which is part of what makes Michael Emerson so awesome.

-Still unanswered: Who are the "them" Ben is sending Sayid after? Are they all Team Widmore?

Best lines:

SAYID: The last time you encountered him [Locke] you put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. That's not good diplomacy.

4:4 Eggtown


-I love the way Locke chops the melon in half. You can tell he's never watched the Food Network.

-Locke gives Ben a copy of Philip K. Dick's Valis and tells him "You might catch something you missed the second time around." (Very appropriate for a LOST rewatch!)

-When Locke throws his plate at the "concrete" wall outside of where Ben is being held, the wall bounces. Oops!

-Kate's judge is named Arthur Galzethron, which I was sure was an anagram of some sort, but I haven't been able to come up with anything good. On a forum someone said it's "Learn through Artz" - but that guy was an idiot.

-Jack is a REALLY good liar.

-Kate's lawyer, Shawn Doyle, will always be the Big Love guy to me. Although he was also on the movie Frequency, which I saw ages ago and don't really remember. Apparently it has some parallels to LOST, including time travel, and Shawn Doyle's character is named Jack Shepard.

-I crack up a little bit when Kate tells Sawyer she wants to break Ben out of his cell, because of the way she says it: "I wanna bust him out." It sounds very hillbilly.

-Miles asks Ben for 3.2 million dollars, which we now know is double the amount Widmore was paying him to be on the freighter. And 16 and 32 are both Numbers.

-Claire seems to have completely forgotten about Charlie already. I know she can't mope around forever, but one episode or two would have been nice!

-As Kate enters the court house a bearded man yells something unintelligible at her. It turns out if you play the audio backwards he is yelling "We hate you!"

-I remember getting on the forums and dissecting the coffee mug Kate drinks out of on the porch, which has some writing on the bottom. After all our careful research we found out the truth - it was a mug from Walmart. So I guess the moral of the story is that even the Dharma Initiative can't resist their super low prices.

-I don't understand why Kate is so against her mother seeing Aaron (other than the fact that her mom is just a huge d-bag.) Is she afraid her mom will realize that Aaron isn't really Kate's?

-Kate's pregnancy scare kind of bugs me. Sawyer says "What would we do with a baby?" and Kate's mad at him for not wanting to have a baby with her, but they don't even mention that it would be a bad thing because IT WOULD KILL HER to have a baby on the Island. The whole subplot is misdirection, leading us to think Kate's child is Sawyer's, but I didn't find it very convincing.

-I love love love the ending of this episode. Watching it the first time, just before Kate picks Aaron up and says his name I gasped out loud "No way, is that Aaron?!" That little boy looks JUST like Claire too. Excellent casting.

Best lines:

LOCKE: You may think this is a democracy, Kate, because of the way Jack ran things, but this is not a democracy.

KATE: Well, I guess that makes it a dictatorship.

LOCKE: If I was a dictator, I would just shoot you, and go about my day. Dinner's at six if you're hungry.

4:9 The Shape of Things to Come, 4:10 Something Nice Back Home, 4:11 Cabin Fever

4:9 The Shape of Things to Come



Another jam-packed episode that gave us a lot to think about. I love the Island mythology episodes, and the fact that this one centers around Ben makes it even better.

-Jack starts to feel sick and jokes with Kate about writing his own prescription. It's not so funny when we see him actually do that in his flashforwards.

-Hurley says "Australia is the key to the whole game," which applies to RISK, but might also apply to the show itself.

-I had to go look on Lostpedia to see what the Arab men on horseback say, and here it is: "Look around! He doesn't have a trail! Where did he come from? Fell from the sky?" ...and out comes the Ben stick! There's something about this scene that makes me think Ben is actually a jedi.

-Sawyer becomes sort of a hero when he runs through the compound to save Claire. What a different guy than the one we've known!

-Miles rings the doorbell. Ha!

-A still unanswered question: Did Widmore really have Nadia killed, or was it Ben?

-Mirror image: Ben using Nadia to control Sayid is a parallel to Keamy using Alex to control Ben. Both situations end pretty badly.

-I hadn't noticed before that Locke fully expects Ben to go out and save Alex.

-Another unanswered question: when Keamy kills Alex Ben says Widmore "changed the rules." What are the rules? Who came up with them, and why? If the rules have been changed, then why can't Ben kill Widmore?

-Daniel didn't expect Bernard to know Morse code. Oh, snap!

-The final scene between Widmore and Ben is one of the best ever. Each has his face half in shadow, to signify that we don't know which one is good, and which one is bad. It's a war that we don't know yet who we want to win.

Best lines:

WIDMORE: Don't stand there, looking at me with those horrible eyes of yours and lay the blame for the death of that poor girl on me, when we both know very well I didn't murder her at all, Benjamin. You did.

BEN: No, that's not true.

WIDMORE: Yes, Benjamin, it is. You creep into my bedroom in the dead of night--like a rat--and have the audacity to pretend that you're the victim?

4:10 Something Nice Back Home

-It's cool in the opening scene of Jack's flashforward that his appendectomy scar is visible.

-The story Jack reads to Aaron is from "Alices Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll. The sequel to that book is "Through the Looking-Glass." Both books have many parallels to LOST - Alice discovers a strange new world where regular logic does not apply, and the passage of time is not the same. In "TTLG" everything is the exact opposite as in the real world, a mirror image.

-Now that we know what happens to Locke, the part of the story Jack reads has more significance: "Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: `Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night. Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? But if I'm not the same, the next question is, 'Who in the world am I?' Aha, that's the great puzzle."

-So Rousseau is really, definitely dead. It's kind of funny that the only way to tell for sure that someone is dead on LOST is to see their body buried in a grave. And even then we might see them again, which thankfully is true in this case.

-It's funny to me when Juliet shaves Jack's stomach, because he has so clearly waxed it already. There's nothing to shave. Maybe it's the same Island property that keeps all the women's armpit hair from growing.

-Jack drives me crazy sometimes. Seriously, being awake during your own abdominal surgery?! That is pretty much the height of control-freakishness.

-I refuse to take sides in the Jate/Skate debate (that rhymes!) but I really like Jack and Kate together off the Island. Too bad it doesn't last that long.

-Hurley tells Jack he has a message for him from Charlie: "You're not supposed to raise him Jack." I assumed he meant Aaron, but now I wonder if he could have meant Locke.

-Another smoke monster clue - the smoke alarm starts beeping right before Jack sees his dad, wearing white sneakers in the hospital lobby.

-Claire sees Christian in the jungle and follows him. Still unanswered: is she dead at this point? How is she able to see him, and why does she so easily leave Aaron behind?

Best lines:
DANIEL: Where do you suppose all this power's coming from?

CHARLOTTE: Add that one to the list, Dan.

-------

JULIET: Jack wants to watch the surgery, "talk me through it."

[Kate chuckles.]

JULIET: What?

KATE: I'm just surprised he hasn't taken it out of himself by now.

4:11 Cabin Fever


See my original post on this episode here.

-Emily Locke goes into labor at 5 (almost 6) months pregnant; the same gestational age Ben was when he was born. According to Juliet, women who conceive on the Island die at this same point of their pregnancies.

-When Sayid and Desmond wake up in their bunks, Desmond speaks so tenderly to him that it kind of sounds like they're in love. Makes me laugh every time.

-Smoke monster alert! Mrs. Locke starts lighting a cigarette and the nurse says "You can't smoke in here." Right after that, Richard Alpert shows up at the window. Mrs. Locke seems to be lying when she says she doesn't know who he is. Has she seen him before?

-It's so cool that we know now why Richard was there in the first place - because Locke told him to be.

-In season 5, Richard says that he is able to live the way he does because of Jacob. Could Locke now be the same after his death (which Jacob revived him from) -existing outside of time?

-Inside the cabin, Christian tells Locke that he's not Jacob, but he can "speak on his behalf." Is he telling the truth?

-Still a big unknown - what is Claire's status? Why is she acting all drugged? After watching season 2 again I noticed that she is behaving exactly the same way in the cabin as she did in "Maternity Leave" when Ethan was drugging her to keep her happy.

Best lines:

BEN: Those things had to happen to me. That was my destiny. But you'll understand soon enough that there are consequences to being chosen... because, destiny, John, is a fickle bitch.

---------

LOCKE: He wants us to move the Island. [THUD]

4:13 There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 and 3

Last night's Lost was so full of action and twists and turns...I don't even know where to begin. I gasped, screamed, and yelled "Oh no!" so many times that Eric very sweetly told me to shut up. Now that's good TV!



First things first: they moved the Island! Something I noticed while Ben was in the cold room with the Wheel of Time (that's what I'm calling it, anyway!*) - the sound effects that were used sounded just like the ones in the Swan Hatch before it exploded. The same eerie humming that signified massive amounts of electromagnetism. The soundtrack music was the same too. And then when Ben finishes turning the wheel, the blinding light that results is the same that we saw in the finale of season 2. So, could the Island have been moved at that point too? There wasn't anyone offshore at that time to observe it, so theoretically none of the Losties would have been able to tell it had moved - they would have been moved right along with it. Maybe that could explain though how Desmond and Eko woke up far apart in different places on the Island, but completely unscathed.

We saw in "The Shape of Things to Come" that right after he turns the wheel, Ben ends up in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Remember that polar bear skeleton that Charlotte found in the Sahara? It had a Dharma Initiative collar next to it. I think the DI was using the polar bears as test subjects to turn the wheel, and that's how one (maybe several) ended up in the Sahara. At least they wouldn't mind the cold in the time chamber. The wheel spokes had holes in their ends - maybe for hitching up to polar bears?


*A bit of useless trivia about the wheel - for every season finale, the writers come up with a code word/phrase for the big reveal or cliffhanger of that season so they can refer to that scene in front of anyone without giving the secret away. Season 1 was "The Bagel" (Walt taken from the raft by The Others), season 2 was "The Challah" (Penny's men detecting the electromagnetic anomaly and reporting it to her), season 3 was "The Rattlesnake in the Mailbox" (finding out that Jack and Kate are off Island in the future) and this one was "Frozen Donkey Wheel". Damon and Carlton talked about this in the podcast a few weeks ago - who would have guessed that "Frozen Donkey Wheel" meant exactly what it said?

The big question though, is where is the Island now? Or when? One clue might be the Orchid Station orientation video that Locke watches. The writers had serious time issues this season (condensing 16 episodes into 13) and they took a big chunk of time for us to see that video, so it must be important. Right before the tape starts going haywire, Dr. Edward Halliwax says that when the rabbit is sent a few milliseconds in the future it will "seem to disappear" for a brief moment. Maybe that's what happened to the Island too - in being sent into the future it seems to disappear. And if it was being sent much farther than a few milliseconds (it could be months or years) it could seem to disappear for much longer.

Speaking of Locke...I was shocked, SHOCKED that he was the one in the coffin. I was sure it was going to be Ben, especially since the alias he was using was Jeremy BENtham. Turns out if I had paid more attention in philosophy class in 10th grade I might have clued in to who it was; Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher in the late 1700/early 1800s. (Also named for philosophers: Danielle Rousseau, Desmond Hume, Richard Alpert (AKA Ram Dass), and John Locke himself.) Jeremy Bentham was heavily influenced by Locke's work, and was also a rationalist. Here's an excerpt from iep.com:

Bentham is primarily known today for his moral philosophy, especially his principle of utilitarianism which evaluates actions based upon their consequences, in particular the overall happiness created for everyone affected by the action. He maintained that putting this principle into consistent practice would provide justification for social, political, and legal institutions. Although Bentham's influence was minor during his life, his impact was greater in later years as his ideas were carried on by followers such as John Stuart Mill, John Austin, and other consequentialists.

Bentham is also known for designing the Panopticon, a prison design in which an observer can see all the prisoners, but the prisoners don't know they're being watched. The pyschological effect of the design is the "sentiment of an invisible omniscience"; the idea is that the feeling that they are constantly under scrutiny will lead to better behavior and reform. Here's a sketch:



Maybe the name Jeremy Bentham represents Locke's new role and how he sees himself as the new leader of The Others. That group definitely has a history of people watching (the many surveillance cameras, the black smoke, the whispers). I like the way we were shown Locke in the coffin, but have no idea how he got there - it's the same storytelling device the writers used last season when they showed us Jack and Kate off the Island with no explanation of how they were rescued. I bet a lot of season 5 will be about Locke as a leader on the Island and what "bad things" happen to prompt him to seek out the ones who left.

There were a lot of deaths last night (speaking of which, I recently saw Matthew Fox on Jimmy Kimmel, and he commented that the show has become a lot more violent since it was moved to the 10:00 time slot. So it's not just my imagination.) Three of the originals: Michael, Jin, and Locke - although technically we didn't actually see any of them die. The only person we saw die (twice!) was Keamy - holy moley, I was glad to see that guy gone. He was scary. Almost as scary as Ben. (Did anyone else get total chills when Locke told Ben "You just killed everyone on the boat!" and Ben said "So?" The guy is pure evil. But man, he's fun to watch!) Michael's death has me perplexed - why did Christian Shepard, who Michael had never seen before, appear to him? "You can go now" - does that mean "You can die?" or "Let me teleport you along with the Island"? We never actually see him get hit by the blast. Add to that the fact that Walt thinks Michael is still on the Island - and since Walt has been visited by Jeremy Bentham/Locke, you'd think he would have been clued in about his dad's passing. Curiouser and curiouser.

As for Jin, I think there is a good chance he's still alive. That was a pretty big explosion - but if people can survive a plane crash, a gunshot to the stomach, a helicopter crash, or a harpoon to the chest, why not a huge pile of C4 detonating? That would be a pretty good twist for season 6 too: Sun goes back to the Island and - surprise! Your husband didn't actually explode! (And hopefully you didn't start dating again.)

I think my favorite scene was the reunion between Desmond and Penny. Their story is one of the best arcs on the show. (On a side note, I really wish they didn't have to tell us in the opening credits who the guest stars are going to be. I saw Sonya Walger credited and instantly knew Penny was going to show up at some point - talk about ruining the surprise. But apparently it's in the actors' contracts or something so the writers/producers don't have a choice about who shows up in the credits.) The scene in "The Constant" when they speak to each other on the phone has the high honor of being the first scene in a television show ever to make me cry. If none of the other characters end up happy, I hope Penny and Desmond do. I almost wish this could be the end of their story - but it can't, since Ben's mission in life now is to kill Penny. Way to wreck the honeymoon, Ben.

Lots of creepiness last night too - Hurley playing chess with Mr. Eko sent shivers down my spine. Kate's dream about Claire was chilling, although I was glad to see Kate showing some remorse about taking Aaron away from his mother. And when Ben startles Jack in the funeral home I just about peed my pants - I mean, Ben is creepy even when he's sitting there eating an Apollo Bar; appearing in the corner of a closed funeral parlor dressed all in black pushes him way over the edge of the creepy scale.

A few of my favorite moments: finding out Charlotte was born on the Island (did her parents know Ben?), Sawyer jumping out of the helicopter and sacrificing himself for the rest of the group (when did he become so noble?), Sun confronting Mr. Widmore in London, and Sayid playing the spy/assassin role again (they are both so badass in the future).

A few things I don't really get: The Island let Michael die (if he did) once the freighter was about to blow up because that was the mission he was supposed to accomplish. But why did the freighter need to be destroyed? They moved the Island, so there's no way Widmore could have come back to find it (the reason they wanted to get rid of the freighter in the first place). Also, Keamy's "dead man trigger" - how in the world was it sending a radio signal to the freighter from so far underground in the Orchid Station? And when he died, why couldn't Ben and Locke just pick up the device quickly and put it on one of their arms? I'm not very knowledgeable about dead man triggers (a little, but not very) but I was surprised they didn't even try that.

Predictions for next season: On Island, we'll see Locke's rule as the new leader of The Others and how that eventually leads to his death. Hopefully we'll find out more about how the Island moved, and where it is now. We'll see the gathering of the Oceanic Six and how they are each persuaded that they have to go back to the Island. As far as how they'll get back...I'm kind of hoping next season will end with another plane crash.

What are your thoughts? Questions? Rants?

Eight long months to go until the next new Lost. I need a new hobby.

4:11 Cabin Fever

Sweet sassy molassey, how crazy was last night's episode?! MOVE the Island?! Wha-ha-ha-haaaat?! Locke met both Alpert and Abaddon pre-Island - and they tried to recruit him?! Claire is chilling with Christian in Jacob's cabin, acting all high?! Locke drew a picture of the black smoke as a child?!



Something I had forgotten from previous episodes is that Locke's mother is named Emily. Remember who else was named Emily? Yep, Benjamin Linus' mother. Are they the same person, or is it a coincidence? Could Locke and Ben be brothers? That would be dramatic for sure, and it would explain why they are both "special" enough to be chosen by the Island. The problem with this theory is that Ben's mom died giving birth to him and in the season one episode "Deus Ex Machina" Locke met his mother - and DNA tests confirmed with 99% certainty that she was who she claimed to be. Maybe we'll find out that there is a prophecy à la Harry Potter about who the next leader will be which involves being born to a woman named Emily L---- (Locke and Linus have the same number of letters.) Richard Alpert is watching after Locke is born - maybe Horace Goodspeed shows up right as Ben is born because he is being watched in the same way, hoping that he will be the Island's next chosen leader.

Another weird connection is the test that Richard Alpert gave to young John Locke, apparently to find out if he was ready to be recruited to a "gifted school" (which we all know means the Island.) I remembered learning in a World Religions class that a similar test is given to children who are thought to be the new incarnation of the Dalai Lama. Here's part of an article about it:

Officials can decide where to look for the reincarnation [of the Dalai Lama] in several ways: by way of a dream; by watching the direction the smoke drifts after the cremation of the previous Lama and then searching accordingly; or from some sign or vision from a holy lake in central Tibet.

Once found, the officials present the boy with possessions of the previous Dalai Lama to determine whether the boy is familiar with them. If the child chooses the artifacts that belonged to he previous Lama, than that, along with the other signs, is believed to prove he is a reincarnation.

So did those objects belong to Jacob? Or another leader on the Island? Why did choosing the knife cause him to fail the test? It's interesting that the knife was the wrong choice - since that's the object that grownup Locke is always wielding. Maybe it's a sign that he's not being true to his real destiny?

And how about that "Mystery Tales" comic book? The guy with the dark brows looks a lot like the ageless Alpert to me. And notice the floating city.


Thanks to Google, I found out that this comic was published in April 1956 by Atlas Comics (which later became Marvel.) The stories inside include "The Hidden Land!", "A Warning Voice", "The Travelers", and "Crossroads of Destiny". Anyone want to buy a copy on eBay and tell me what the stories say?

I loved the cabin scene, and I'm not embarrassed to admit that I got REALLY scared. As soon as they cue those peeper frogs, I start getting goosebumps. Last night Eric had gone to bed early and there was a huge thunderstorm, so things were set up perfectly for me to get all kinds of freaked out. Then at the exact moment Locke first sees someone sitting in the corner of the cabin, the crappy Ikea blinds on our sliding glass door behind me fell off their tracks with a huge crash. I just about peed my pants! I had to do some deep breathing to recover - and then watch The Office to get de-creepified before going to bed.

4:8 Meet Kevin Johnson

I'll just say it: I don't know how I'm going to survive this next break - a month before the next new episode! I might have to rewatch the first 8 episodes of season four. Thoughts about last week's episode - did they really kill off Rousseau?! I saw the bullet go in, but somehow I'm not sure this is the end for her. We've certainly seen characters survive being shot before. There's a lot more to her story (we haven't seen that flashback episode the writers promised not so long ago) and I think she's one of the most interesting characters on the Island, so I hope she's alive. Maybe she'll pull a Locke on us in the next episode. Karl is definitely dead though. Poor Karl. At least he got a cool Star Wars allusion in before he kicked it ("I have a bad feeling about this...")

About Michael; I like the idea that he is trying to redeem himself for betraying his friends. He has always struck me as one of the weakest of the characters when it comes to morals, so it will be interesting to see if he's able to find redemption in his final days. I think he's the one in the coffin (anyone else?)

Why can't Michael kill himself? What does it mean when big gay Tom says "the Island won't let you"? (By the way, I think it's hilarious that Tom used to be the scariest of the Others, and now we find out that he's this jolly gay foodie. Talk about character development.) Here's my out-there theory: it all goes back to destiny. Remember the episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes" where Desmond first time travels? He goes back to his pre-Island life and tries to change things so that he ends up married to Penny instead of on the Island. He finds out that he can't. He meets the mysterious Ms. Hawking, who explains that no matter what he does, he will always end up on the Island because it is his destiny to push the button.

So it must be Michael's destiny to go back to the Island on the freighter and work for Ben, since he's been unsuccessful at three separate suicide attempts. The big question is, how does Tom know that it's his destiny? Here's where it gets even weirder - maybe it's because Tom and Ben can see the future. It's not too much of a stretch - we've already seen this happen with Desmond when he has a vision of Charlie dying. Ben always seems to be three steps ahead of everyone else all the time. I think Ben is able to use the Island's powers to see the future, and I think it has to do with his ability to talk to Jacob. This is why he's so passionate about protecting the Island from being discovered by Widmore or anyone else. Ben knows that it's Michael's destiny to be on the freighter because he's seen it, just like Desmond knew it was Charlie's destiny to die no matter how many times he tried to save his life. It's not that the Island controls destiny, it's that it allows certain people to see what an individual's destiny will be.

Of course I could be completely wrong. But it kind of makes sense, right?

Great LOST Sources

Ever since we sprang forward for Daylight Savings, my son Sawyer has been sleeping in until 9:00 every morning. I've been staying up late at night making soap, reading blogs, practicing yoga, and thoroughly enjoying my late-night alone time, knowing that I can get plenty of sleep by sleeping in late in the morning. Until today, when my little munchkin inexplicably decided to wake up bright-eyed and raring to go at 5:45 a.m. I stayed up until 2 last night. UGH. I lay there for an hour or so while he played with his stuffed animals and read books on the floor. When I couldn't put him off any longer (because he was ready for breakfast) the thought that helped me get out of bed was... "LOST is on tonight!"

I'm trying to remember the last time I was this excited about a TV show, and I can't. There's never been a show like this one that I not only watch every week, but also read about, think about, and talk about in between. It's like one of my favorite books, but in 50 inches of high definition, and I'm only allowed to read a chapter at a time.

Tonight's episode, "Ji Yeon" is a biggie - we're going to find out who the rest of the Oceanic Six are. I've been spoiled on this one, but it will still be exciting to see it confirmed. I have a theory for *why* they are the Six, and I think it's a good one but I'll save it for afterwards so I don't unintentionally give anything away. We're also going to find out who Ben's "man on the boat" is. I haven't read any spoilers on that one (they are out there, but I avoid them like the plague! Which is easier said than done when you read the message boards.) I'm guessing it's Michael. The producers announced last summer that Harold Perrineau is coming back this season, and having him be on the freighter would be a really cool way to bring his character back. I can't think of anyone else who would make sense.

If you're like me and can't get enough LOST, check out some of these sources. They're a great way to pass the time between episodes - and we're about to have a lot of that soon, since after episode 8 next week we won't get another new episode until April 24th.

The Lost Forum. A forum with almost 100,000 members, a great place to talk about theories, reactions, and Easter Eggs. They have a live episode party where you can type as you watch. And they are Nazi-esque when it comes to tagging spoilers, which is great if you're like me and don't want to see them most of the time.

Lost: The Missing Pieces. These are a must-see. If you haven't watched these yet, go do it now! They have key information that wasn't in any of the episodes.

Lost Podcast. Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof (or "Darlton" as they're affectionately known on the forums) talk about the show and answer questions from viewers. They give some important information about the show during these, as well as debunking some commonly held theories (they really aren't all dead!) You can also subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes. I like to listen to it while I load the dishwasher.

Dark UFO's Screencaps and Easter Eggs If there's an Easter Egg you missed, chances are it will be here, and he posts audio clips sometimes (like when we hear the whispers, or when there is a message hidden in backwards audio). He also links to his site that's all spoilers if that's what you're into.

J. Wood on Powell's Books He's a graduate student at UVA and tackles each episode from a literary and historic perspective. It makes you realize how well read the LOST writers are - allusions galore!

Lostpedia A Lost wiki with just about every informational tidbit about the story, characters, etc. It's great if you can't remember the name of the redheaded anthropologist from the freighter (it's Charlotte Staples Lewis!)


Happy LOST Day!

4:1 The Beginning of the End

Yesterday was my thirtieth birthday. It was a really nice day, despite the evidence that I am rapidly aging and my life is at least one third of the way over (as my dad so lovingly pointed out.) I started out the day by finding my iPod, which has been missing for the past week. It was in a bag I had already checked a couple of times. I think it was the universe's birthday gift to me. My sister Megan took me to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch, then Eric came home early from work (with flowers!) We got takeout from Outback and spent a quiet evening at home.

If the universe's gift to me was my iPod, ABC's gift to me was the season premiere of LOST! The plan was to watch it together after dinner, but Eric was so tired that he fell asleep with Sawyer at 8:00. As much as I love Eric's company there was no way I was going to wait until the next night to watch it (and it's a good thing I didn't, because he just got called into work tonight so I would have had to wait until tomorrow!) So I watched it by myself. I got completely freaked out by the part where Hurley is in the jungle and sees Jacob's cabin. But man, what a great episode! As always, there were a few answers, but a lot more questions. I've spent way too much time today reading on lost-forum.com and trying to figure out what the heck is going on. (Lost Media has a great summary that clarifies a few key points, by the way.)

I love the device of using the flash-forwards, but presenting them backwards, so we're moving from the future towards the present moment. It's a brilliant way to create suspense. I was totally proud of myself when I immediately knew the one driving the car was Hurley - I recognized the car from season three. If I hadn't just watched it, there's no way I would have remembered that, but still - any time I guess right about this show I feel proud.

One cool thing I found out on the boards today: the man Hurley saw in the rocking chair in the cabin was Christian Shepard, Jack's father. It's too dark to really tell but someone took a screencap of it and adjusted the lighting and it's very clear that it's him. Of course, this being the creepy island where crazy stuff happens, that doesn't mean that he's alive, or real, just that Hurley saw him. (Screencap from Screencaps and Easter Eggs)


The big question at the end of this episode: Who are the Oceanic Six? We know Jack, Kate and Hurley left the island somehow. So who are the other three? And why did they agree to leave everyone else behind? It seems that after getting rescued they lied and claimed to be the only survivors of the crash, and this is what is wracking Hurley and Jack with so much guilt. Why would their silence be a condition of rescue? My guess (and hope!) is that we'll continue to see the flash-forwards (going backwards) until we get to the point of the rescue and find out what happened. Next week can't come fast enough.