Thursday, April 30, 2009

Episode 14 - The Variable

Wow! Amazing episode! And I haven't started a post like that in a while. The 100th episode will go down as one of the best ... I thought I knew it all and they threw this game changer at us! I'm scared to even attempt a summary but here goes ...



SUMMARY


ISLAND
Daniel Farraday gets off the sub with Miles and goes to see Dr. Chang. He tells him he's from the future and that he needs to order an immediate evacuation of the island or else in six hours an electromagnetic incident will occur and wipe everyone out. To prove his point he tells him that Miles is his son. He then went to Jack and the gang to tell them they weren't supposed to come back and that they are the variables that have the potential to change the future and prevent the incident. He recruits Kate to tell him where he can find the hostiles because his mother is one of them. With Juliet's help, Kate and Jack leave with Daniel amidst a Dharma vs. Oceanic 6 shootout. They escape to the Others and Dan approaches the camp. He is then shot by his mother Ellie and comes to the realization that she knew about his impending death all along.

OFF THE ISLAND

A young Daniel is told he is special by his mother and she's there to guide him along his path. He attends Oxford graduating the youngest physicist with a grant to study his research from Mr. Whidmore. He and his mother attend a graduation dinner without his girlfriend Theresa and she gives him a journal. A few years later Daniel is with a stay at home nurse because he has lost his memory from testing his experiments on himself. He is watching coverage of the 815 rescue and crying when Whidmore comes to visit. He tells him that the people on the island are alive and that he created the fake plane to protect them. He then asks Farraday to go to the island so he can study it. Daniel refuses until his mother approaches him and tells him he has to take the offer. Further into the future we see Desmond and Penny in the hospital. Penny is approached by Eloise and she asks how Desmond is doing. She apologizes claiming it is her son Daniel's fault and she honestly doesn't know if Desmond will be okay. Penny goes in to visit Desmond on the recovery room and he is fine. Eloise and Whidmore talk and we find out that Whidmore is actually Farraday's father.

Woohoo on to my thoughts!

1. So, are you telling me that there is a possibility that the incident might not happen causing no need for Dharma to create the hatch to monitor the electromagnetic build up which Desmond will come to the island to push every 108 minutes until one time he fails to push it on time and thus crashes the Oceanic flight 815 and chaos ensuing as we know it? Ha so basically I LOVE this idea. I love that their entire destiny was to change their future and I think there is no other option now than for the Oceanic 6 to prevent the incident from happening thus making season 6 totally different. So the plane lands find in LA and then what? Do we have to watch the characters somehow miraculously find each other again? Will Jack and Kate have a chance now? I don't even know how that storyline would play out but I am pumped to see!


2. Commercials - I hope no one DVRed through the commercials last night because they placed little clues in them! And thanks to my abc insider, she informed me that a commercial for last night cost more than the finale! Well our first clue was the title board turning into stars for a nice little Star Trek preview (which btw and I'm sure no one is surprised I am super pumped to see that!). Which leads me to wonder if the rest weren't actually about LOST, just a ploy to get us to see Star Trek next weekend ... but we had little snippets of a scene, one was a coffin being carried, a wedding, a baby, and children leaving school. All of these are plausible LOST story lines but also could be from Star Trek. Either way I'm intrigued!


3. Kate chose Jack! Well I mean Juliet helped her with her choice but come on, they've been the love story since day one so we're assuming since they are pursuing the hostiles with Farraday that they will take over in his quest to stop the incident and one thing Kate and Jack do well together is run through the island on a crazy mission and fall in love.

4. I love how well thought out this show is. Basically we're seeing a lot of flashbacks/flashforwards start to make sense. Farraday did his experiments on himself and it caused memory loss. This explains why he and Charlotte were flipping cards to test his memory. Also it explains why he was crying about the wreckage of 815 being found. And why he was digging at the Swan station at the beginning of season 5. Even though its not much, I just love when things get explained because I've spent quite a few years in the dark.


5. It was a tender scene between Farraday and young Charlotte. But I do remember her saying he scared her but it didn't look like that to me. But maybe that goes with the whole you can change the future thing that this episode seemed to point out.

6. I'm starting to have faith that LOST will be re-building Jack up again. He's been a little down and out so maybe now we'll see him responsible for the choice of whether or not the incident happens. So me thinks he does have a purpose going back after all!

7. The Variable - well this made a lot of sense. The Oceanic Six coming back is the variable that Dan never saw in his experiment. Since he knew nothing else could change unless it was reacting to an unseen changeable aspect, he should have assumed that him going back to the past could happen and affect the future. We've been saying it all along, that if they did go back in time, why couldn't they affect the future? Because it already happened and is the Oceanic Six's past? No, that could never have been true - maybe Dan Farraday should have watched Back to the Future!


8. So now is the real war between Ellie and Whidmore? Does Ben even matter to them at all? The Whidmore/Ellie dispute would make sense as to why Ben is on Ellie's side. It seems like Whidmore wants nothing but to find the island for himself and Ellie sent Daniel to try to prevent the incident by blowing up the island after everyone was evacuated thus ending the dispute for it for good? So why is she trying to keep it out of the hands of Whidmore? I guess all will be revealed in due time.


9. Richard Alpert - he still seems to be the key to everything as far as the explanation of the history of the island. There are so many different groups now its hard to keep them straight. Basically I think the Hostiles came over on the Black Rock (the boat from season 2) and lived there ageless until Ellie and Whidmore came over to explore the island (Government?). There was a change in regime (perhaps Ellie vs. Whidmore) and Whidmore took over. Dharma came to the island to explore and Ben joined up with the Hostiles and banished Whidmore. The Hostiles then took over Dharma becoming the Others. The Others then terrorize Flight 815. This all however will become obsolete if the incident does not happen. So that's my explanation.


10. What's going to happen to Sawyer and Juliet? Their secret has been found out all thanks to Phil and now they'll have to answer for it. It was clear to Juliet that he still loves Kate, but I think he'll stay with her. And I think that one of them will die, I don't think Daniel's death is considered big enough to be the big death this season.


Okay so I loved this episode obvio, tell me what you think because I think I have a headache from trying to think about it!


xoxo

Bridget

**Update - the mini commercial blasts were a preview for ABC's new show called "Flash Forward" which is set to take place of LOST. It's about a world where everyone blacks out for a certain amount of time and flashes forward to the future only to return to the present and then deal with the chaos of the entire world blacking out at the same time. Sounds AWESOME!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Episode 13 - Some Like It Hoth

Hi All,

Sorry again for the delay, as our ever continuing saga of "Will Bridget ever get cable?" continues, I only get Internet access via my blackberry when I'm away from work and if you think I was writing this blog on that, you are sorely mistaken. Although the thought did cross my mind ...



SUMMARY


FLASHBACKS

Miles Strom learns at an early age that he has the ability to "communicate" with dead people via their corpse. Miles confronts his mother on her death bed in his teenage years about his ability and asks questions about how he can find his father. She tells him he is dead and he can never go to the place where his body is located. Miles soon learns to use his ability to financially advance himself and he does is strictly for the money. He is then recruited by Naomi to work for Whidmore on the island for $1.6 million and after testing his abilities on a corpse, and he accepts. He is then kidnapped by Bram and offered nothing in exchange for his word to not go to the island. Since Miles is in it for the money he refuses to comply and they drop him out of the van after telling him he isn't ready for the island.

ISLAND
Miles and Hurley team up to drive a corpse to Dr. Marvin Candle, aka Miles' father. On the way, Hurley learns how Miles' father is on the island and Hurley accuses him of not taking destiny up on his second chance to get to know his father. They pick up Candle at the construction site of The Swan aka the Hatch and drive Candle over to the Orchid where he leaves the body. Later in the day, Miles is watching his family when Candle comes out and asks Miles to drive him somewhere. They go to the docks and see Farraday getting off the submarine, he recognizes Miles. Back in Othersville Roger is upset over his missing son and suspects that Kate has something to do with it. He asks Jack about it and Jack tells him to forget it. Later, Sawyer is confronted by Phil about Ben's disappearance claiming he saw the tape of Sawyer helping him escape and Sawyer knocks Phil out.

On to the top 10!

1. Okay so I thought this episode told us nothing. I mean yes it was confirmed that Miles is actually Candles' son but we totally already knew it. And yes we understand Miles can talk to dead people but come on! This we all already knew. We hardly even got new mysteries! That being said, I have tried my best to come up with a top ten list. So coupled together with the fact that I watched it in Spanish, I can't promise anything!

2. Hurley & Miles - So this new comedy team I like. I like how the producers and writers are answering our questions through Hurley. And I totally thought that Hurley was writing a diary of sorts about their island adventures, but alas, he was writing Star Wars! Pretty genius, I guess if I time traveled back in time I would re-write the Harry Potter series before J.K. Rowling and I would be a billionaire and I would buy you all a Firebolt! Woah did I just nerd out right there? Yeah, sorry.

3. The test that Naomi conducted with Miles was pretty clever. Also it makes a lot of sense with why he is there. Looks like Whidmore needs him to get to the bottom of how Ben eliminated Dharma and others. And I like how we got to see the fact that Miles will do just about anything if the price is right.

4. Bram aka annoying guy from October Road - I was certainly shocked to see him ride up and kidnap Miles. Now he can't work for Whidmore if he wanted Miles to stay away from Naomi and her mission and he can't work for Ben is Ben didn't acknowledge him in present time on the island so who does he work for? I'm gonna go with old Dharma. Since Whidmore, who I always thought was Dharma (and still possible could be), is an original Other/Hostile and Ben represents new age Other/Hostile, we still don't have a Dharma representative besides Horace who we all know dies. Also another important thing from this encounter was the re-emergence of the question about the statue's shadow? So looks like we'll find out what is there soon! Maybe dead bodies? Who knows.

5. So I think the most important thing we learned from this episode about time travel is that people from the future can see themselves in the past. Miles saw his family which included himself as a baby. He hasn't interacted with himself yet so I wonder if that is still a possibility but I assume we shall find out soon as I think Miles will try to get to know his father. Man, if I went back in time to see myself as a baby, I think I would start liking kids much more since I'm pretty sure I was an adorable baby.

6. Oh hello Daniel Farraday! We've missed you! So he's back, and I'm pretty sure its to cause the "incident" we are so looking forward to in the season finale (which has been named "the fork in the outlet"). So it looks like he's been working for Dharma all along these past three years, just off the island. So maybe now we will get to see him interact with young Charlotte.

7. The Swan - so they're only just now building the hatch, pre-incident. Maybe they don't know that the hostiles buried the A-bomb under there years ago and somehow during construction it explodes? Or maybe there is another magnetic anomaly somewhere else on the island and they are building this to study it only when the "incident" happens it turns into a save the world kind of station? I certainly don't know but boy am I pumped to find out!

8. Dr. Marvin Candle - Is is just me or do I only love the creepy characters on this show? You can see where Miles gets his awkward personality. What was most intriguing about him this episode is how he handled the corpse situation. This person was working in Hostile territory when all of a sudden his filing in his tooth shot out and went through his brain. Sounds pretty painful, remind me to never work on mysterious islands in Hostile territory with my filings still in tact, err not that I have many since I take good care of them. Well whatever, I never had braces so ha! 8. Marvin Candle - so he is awesomely creepy. Why is it that I feel myself loving the creepy bad assAnywho, back to LOST, so Candle, after disposing of the body at the Orchid station simply acted like a body never existed. So what did he do with it? Did he use the magical donkey wheel to send it somewhere in time and space? Does this sort of thing happen a lot where people die out working in Hostile territory?

9. Kate - um could you BE anymore obvious with Ben's disappearance? How did that girl manage to rob a bank, kill her father, kill her childhood sweetie, crash three cars, and escape? Well I guess not well since she eventually was caught. But Roger has a right to be suspicious. Thankfully his fears were somewhat calmed when Jack spoke to him. Anyone else notice how Jack was erasing an Egyptian history lesson? Erasing history? I smell a metaphor!

10. Sawyer punched out Phil! Phil has been pretty suspicious lately so I guess it was inevitable that he would find out what the old gang was up to but Sawyer's answer was to punch now, figure out later. Looks like your whole "thinking things through first" plan isn't really working. Do I sense the rise of Jack coming? God I hope so.

So next week we get to find out all about what Farraday was up to! I hope it was something good because while this episode confirmed a lot, and even gave just a few mysteries, I was just okay with it. I mean, maybe watching it in Spanish had something to do with it, but it was some uneventful. Also do we really have to wait two weeks again? Oh LOST why do you do this to me! Its okay, I still love you!

Until next week!

xo
B

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Episode 12 - Dead Is Dead

Hi Everyone!

So a Ben-centric episode and a whole lot of missing pieces! All in all not my favorite but I liked it all the same.



SUMMARY


FLASHBACKS

Through a series of flashbacks we learn the following: Ben stole baby Alex from Rousseau instead of carrying out his orders to eliminate both from Charles Whidmore. Ben confronts Charles telling him that he is the one who wants the baby dead, not the island so Ben keeps baby Alex. Ben has help from younger Ethan to accomplish his tasks and at this point he still answers to Charles as his leader. Somehow we see Ben take charge and have Charles escorted off the island after having broken the rules of leaving the island and having a child with someone who doesn't qualify. Off the island we see Ben try to execute Penny but he hesitates as young Charlie arrives and Desmond attacks.

ISLAND
Ben wakes up to see a very alive John Locke. After stealing Cesar's gun and executing him, Locke and Ben head off to the main island to find Smokey so Ben can atone for his sins. They return to Othersville to find Sun and Frank waiting for Locke. Ben activates Smokey but Locke decides to lead Ben to the temple to confront Smokey sooner rather than later. Ben is shown the error of his ways, executing Alex, by Smokey and Ben apologizes. Alex materializes in front of him and threatens him to obey Locke. Ben swears he will.

1. Ben vs. Smokey - well now, this was an interesting scene. We finally saw the confrontation of a human vs. Smokey, and it looks like sometimes you live, sometimes you don't. In Ben's case he lived, in Eko's case he did not. I know! Remember Eko! So Eko refused to apologize and admit his sins so he died, yet Ben apologized and knew his choice with Alex was wrong, thus Smokey allowed him to live another day. That being said - I thought it was supremely cheesy, I mean Ben's my favorite so don't get me wrong, great acting, just the whole large images, being surrounded by the cloud ... I don't know, it didn't do it for me. BUT it was pretty cool how it came out of the ground all creepy.

2. Ben vs. the Humes - So it was very much predicted that Ben was hunting down Penny - an eye for an eye right? But looks like evil little Benjamin has a heart and when he saw young Charlie he felt pangs in his heart from little Alex and couldn't go through it. I don't understand why, he certainly has no problem shooting other people point blank (ahem Cesar, Locke, etc.), I guess he just couldn't kill a mother in front of her child, looks like there is a line for Ben. And then we got to see a much beloved character who I've been missing ... Desmond! I'd like to see how he bounced back so fast after catching that bullet to the chest ...

3. Sun and Frank. Okay so Sun is still on the lookout for Jin but what the hell is Frank doing? I mean its nice how protective he seems of Sun but honestly, what is his purpose? And he creeps me out a little ... so I wouldn't be sad if he would just go away, forever. And apparently they were waiting for Locke but when he shows up Frank just decides to peace? Oh okay, so he's all "hey Sun, sure I'll protect you from nothing until the crazy guys with guns appear and now I'll leave you alone." Some protector he is!

4. Locke - so Ben tells us the aptly named episode title that "dead is dead" and so Locke, while he appears to be alive, is something not so alive. So we can only surmise that he is in fact a manifestation of the island. I'm reading some religious undertones in this idea - coupled with the fact that Egyptian ideals seem to be popping up here and there and maybe somehow Locke is being equated as an Egyptian ruler, almost a god? So this might be how he knows things all of a sudden, like where to find Smokey and the Temple. I've mentioned the reincarnation theme and somehow Locke is all tied up with Christian but they have yet to reveal it to us.

5. I am NOT liking the new losties at all. First of all - guy from October Road - I'm not buying the bad guy image you're trying to sell me. Secondly, good for Ben for getting rid of Cesar, he is waaaay too nosey. And i knew the moment Ben saw that gun that it would be his. But it looks like that group isn't so random after all, they've got a mission and it involves that crate they were trying to pry open. So are we looking at another attempt by Whidmore to get back to the island or are we talking an entire third party with another issue to resolve? Dharma? Who knows ...

6. So, we see yet another aged version of Charles Whidmore. He came galloping in on us to his camp. I half expected cheesy romance music to be playing ... I had no idea that was Charles he looked too ridiculous! But he wasn't too pleased to see that Ben hadn't carried out his task as ordered. But he seems like a softie and let Alex stay under Ben's care. So we learned that Charles somehow was banished because he left the island too much and fathered a child with an outsider. Who is this outsider? Will we know her? Is it Annie because I'm dying to know when she'll come back!

7. I just about died when we got to see Desmond and Penny's little one Charlie again, he is just too cute with the curly hair. I'm glad to see they're off living their life ... but I won't lie, I want Desmond back on the island, brotha. Maybe shirtless. Oh quick note - the boat was named "Our Mutual Friend" which I believe is the name of the book that Desmond said would be his last one he ever read ... just a side note.

8. So Ben has recruited young Ethan as his helper. Is there something weird with Ethan since he was born on the island? Did he want to change like Ben wanted to? Will we ever see what happened to change his mind and leave Dharma to go for the Others or will it be that Ben forced him? Either way, Ethan creeps me out at any age!

9. I think an important scene was when Ben confronted Whidmore about the death of Alex as a baby. Ben mentioned that the island didn't want a baby to die, Whidmore wanted it dead. So if the island is all about destiny, and Ben challenges it by saying that it is just a baby and the island can't possibly want it dead, then what are we to think about destiny? It seems like everything that has happened was supposed to happen and if the island wanted baby Alex dead, then was it course correcting itself sixteen years later when Keamy killed Alex? Hello Final Destination much? This is definitely something I'm still really confused about so feel free to offer up an alternative explanation!

10. Next week we find out all about Miles! And if I was correct maybe he reunites with his father! Maybe we'll get some interesting insight into Locke since we don't know if he's alive, or dead, or a zombie!

Okay hope you enjoyed! Only four more episodes left this season so I'm sure they'll be full of answers and maybe a few more mysteries!

xo
B

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Episode 11 - Whatever Happened, Happened

Hi All, So not my favorite episode in a while but like many episodes this season it's confirming a lot of our theories. But I must say I do love how they're using Hurley as a proxy to answer some of the audiences questions - specifically the more confusing ones involving time travel.



SUMMARY


FLASHBACKS

Kate goes to see Cassidy and reveals the truth about the island, Aaron, and why she is there. Cassidy tells her that she took Aaron because she needed him to replace Sawyer. Over the three years they become friends and after Kate meets back up with the Oceanic 6, she almost loses Aaron in a grocery store. Her guilt over taking Aaron from his family causes her to return Aaron to Claire's mother and join the rest of the Oceanic Six as they return to the island so she can find Claire.

ISLAND Juliet tries to save a young Benjamin Linus but turns to Jack for help. When Jack refuses to save his life, Kate takes charge and decides to bring him to Richard Alpert. Sawyer joins her by letting her know he is doing it for Juliet and they take Ben into the jungle. They hand him off to Richard Alpert who says he will never be the same, his innocence will be lost and he won't remember what happened. Present Ben wakes up to find Locke still alive.

How awesome am I with the shortness of my summaries! woohoo on to the top ten!


1. I'm really enjoying how the Oceanic Six is rapidly becoming the cause for all of their own misfortune in the future. Their actions in the past are the catalyst for what happens to them in the future. It's a real ironic situation that Jack's refusal to save Ben is ultimately what causes Kate and Sawyer to give him over to the others thus causing him to lose his innocence and become the evil Ben that we know and love. And while it may have seemed cold hearted - I think it was the right choice for Jack at the time. If Ben lives in the future and you can't change anything in the past, then what difference does it make it Jack saves him or not. After everything that Ben put them through, I would want to test Farraday's theory too. Too bad he didn't though because then Ben could have avoided his destiny of being the evil leader that he is, but then where would we be without such an amazing character!


2. My heart broke just a little more last night when Jack said what he did to Kate. While I think Jack isn't totally out of line when he said Kate never loved the old him, how can he forget Kate in season one and two? She was totally in love with him! But good for Jack not putting up with Kate's flip flopping emotions, one day is Sawyer and the next it Jack! I say bring back Nathan Fillion her actual husband!


3. Kate did a lot of growing up. She realized that she only took Aaron to keep herself occupied while she was away from the island. So she gave him back to Claire's family and owned up to her mistake. I think she was fooling herself and us by saying she was going back to the island to find Claire. Kate, as we have seen, is manipulative. I mean she did commit murder, rob banks, identity theft, and a whole bunch of other stuff - so its not far off to think that she was lying about her motivation of going back to the island. It was for Sawyer and we all know it. Points for Sawyer for growing up and declaring that he was helping her for Juliet's sake, as much as I hate to say it. There was a time when I would rather Sawyer and Kate be together but since I'm still on for Jack and Kate I'll take it.


4. The Claire look-a-like trying to steal Aaron - anyone else think she's an other? Didn't they want Claire so they could have Aaron? Why would they give up so easily? She could be working for Ben so he could take him back to the island ... just a thought.


5. Time Travel - so they used Miles and Hurley to address the ever growing concerns of us mere confused fans. Basically it looks like they're sticking to their guns - Farraday's theory will prove correct in that Miles is standing by the old whatever happened, will happen. Since the future already happened to them, they are in the past thus anything they do is what has already happened. So Jack choosing to not save Ben happened and it is what caused Ben to become evil.


6. I think it would have been a lot cooler if Ben
did remember Sayid in the future but alas Richard Alpert explains to us by saying that he won't remember with whatever he's about to do ... serve him to smokey? Who knows but we do know that whatever Richard Alpert does with Ben it will steal his innocence. I'm sorry, that's kind of a lame explanation for why Ben is the way he is. Couldn't they just left it at Ben hated his father and the way his life has developed so he chose his own destiny by joining up with the others and killing all of Dharma? Why does something have to make him evil, can't he just be evil because he chooses to be?

7. So Ben finally woke up to find Locke, gasp, ALIVE! Clearly we knew the confrontation would come sooner or later but I fully think that Ben's look of surprise was not so genuine. It's not like Ben hasn't tried to kill Locke before so I'm sure he knows that he's like a super-ghost or something and expected him to come back. I'm sticking by my whole re-incarnation theory with Locke and Christian Shephard and I think that Locke will want to proceed peacefully with Ben. What he wants with him, I have no idea, but whatever it is it will benefit the island.


8. Kate was looking much much better this episode! No more of that hideous braid! But I can't decide if I still like her as much now that I saw how much she hurt my man Jack. He seems so beaten down ... he did everything for her and it got him no where. I'm super interested to see what Jack's purpose becomes and I'm hoping he redeems himself. I just feel like LOST spent so much time and effort in building up Jack's character and now in this season we hardly see any of him. So they have to redeem him, and I swear this is not clouded by my obvious love for him.


9. Who will die next? Well they've announced that a major character will die this season and rather soon. I've been speculating that it will be Sawyer since his story line is dwindling but they have recently picked it up by making him in charge of the camp's security. But we learned what he said to Kate, which was super lame by the way, and now I'm not sure where they can go from there. But if not, maybe Ben will see his untimely end soon?


10. Richard Alpert, who is my fave, came back to take responsibility for young Ben. We briefly heard him mention to his others that he wasn't going to share this information with Ellie and Charles who appear to be his leader. So looks like we will find out how Charles and Ellie leave the island, which I'm sure has to do with Ben getting them banished from the island, and how Richard Alpert takes over as leader of the others. I'm excited to see this little coup and the "incident" played out! Perhaps that's Jack's purpose ... somehow making sure the incident happens!


Okay so that's all folks! I'm back to my normal schedule and I'm so sorry last week's came late. And if you don't cheer for VILLANOVA this weekend in the final four consider yourself blacklisted!
xoxo Bridget