Tuesday, May 24, 2005

L O S T S E A S O N F I N A L E ! ! !

Lost Episode Title: "Exodus (Part 2)" and "Exodus (Part 3)"

Character Involved: E V E R Y O N E. Again? I've got two thoughts -
either...

a. We're going to see flashbacks of the characters that we didn't see
flashbacks for in Exodus Part 1 (which would be Hurley, Locke, Charlie, and
Claire). You could argue that with Locke and Hurley, we're still yet to see
the most important flashbacks that have the most connection to the island.
You've also got Anti-christ carrying Claire, whose flashback could also be
quite intriguing. However, I doubt that these four characters could fill two
full hours of TV goodness, which makes choice B much more appealing…

b. We're going to see flashbacks of everyone (even of those who we saw last
week) that will tie them all together. We'll see a common thread in every
flashback (such as the character saying "I can't wait to get home" right
before they step on the plane or something along those lines, or each
sitting in a seat that contains either the Cursed Numbers or a combination
of Cursed Numbers - 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 or something along those lines.)

TV Guide Description: The castaways on the raft are surprised at sea by
something unexpected. Meanwhile, remaining islanders attempt to blow open
the hatch, and a visitor to the encampment might be a threat to Claire's
infant son.

Brian's Deeper Meaning Guess: You’d probably think I’d have nothing
additional to say since the episode title is the same as last week’s, where
I waxed intellectual about the Bible and Bob Marley for half a page – well,
you’d be wrong!

One of the most interesting things that happened last week is how the
characters split up. There’s basically three groups of the "main characters"

1. The Rafters: Walt, Michael, Sawyer, Jin
2. The Hatchers: Jack, Kate, Locke, CFL, Hurley
3. The Beachers: Charlie, Claire, Sayid, Shannon, Vincent

What’s the point? Well, each are looking at their own "Exodus".

The Rafters are the most obvious Exodi (that’s not a word, but it fits
here). They’ve left the island, and are now sailing out into the great
unknown.

The Beachers are basically the sitting ducks in this situation. The Others
are coming for them, as they have what could be the very thing that is
drawing the Others to them (Claire’s baby, Turnip Head). They also have the
weakest of the three groups, with only Sayid to offer any true protection.

Their exodus? How about when the Others come and capture them, and take them
off to another part of the island hostage?

The Hatchers? Well, it might take a while, but assuming they do eventually
blow open the hatch and get inside, there’s a good chance it will lead to
somewhere else too.

All three groups, therefore, will have exodused (again, not a word) from
their original place on the island.

More on the group breakdown later…

TV Guide Description Breakdown: What do the Rafters encounter while out at
sea? By the looks of the radar device they have shown in the commercials,
it’s something coming straight at them, and fast. What could it be?

Flashback to the scene last week where The Hatchers are almost to the Black
Rock. The monster reappears. Everyone scatters except for Locke, who is 100%
calm and not afraid, and Hurley, who is held by Locke. Locke says "It’s not
coming for us – it’s going in the other direction." Also, CFL says "It
protects the island". My bet? The Monster is heading straight for the
Rafters.

Why? Is it that they are dangerously close to discovering some huge secret
about the island that would pose a threat to it? Are they inside some giant
bubble done a la the Truman Show? Will they discover additional islands? Why
is it so critical that the Monster keep them on the island? That I do not
know, but that is my bet.

We’re also allegedly going to finally see "about 5% of the Monster" before
the season is up. This could be easily obtained in the sea environment by
showing a tail or Loch Ness Monster looking neck near the raft. Wait a
minute – Loch as in Locke? Is Locke the monster? Hmmm….

(If it’s not the monster that they encounter, the safe money is on them
finding another island with people on it, or perhaps some sort of wreckage
from CFL’s boat.)

As for the Hatchers attempting to blow up the Hatch, my guess is that they
gather the dynamite, get back to the hatch, set it off – and then nothing.
The Hatch is seemingly impenetrable… until all the sudden all the right
pieces of the puzzle are in place and it opens itself.

If you remember, Locke tried busting open the Hatch with everything
imaginable – but only after he sacrificed Locke and begged the Hatch and the
Island did the light go on. The numbers engraved on the Hatch are the same
as Hurley’s Cursed Numbers. Could it be that Hurley being near the Hatch
will cause it to open? Could it be that the people who were sitting in the
rows of the Cursed Numbers would have to be at the Hatch in order to unlock
the key (more on this later, don’t worry)? Do you have to say the numbers
out loud three times a la Beetlejuice? I don’t know – but I can almost
guarantee it can’t be "busted open". It’ll be much more tricky than that.

The visitor to the encampment that is a threat to Claire’s baby (Turnip
Head)? Well, the only new visitor to the camp is CFL, which makes sense. She
lost her baby when she was young, and could likely be using the whole
"Others" scheme to get Turnip Head to replace her lost child. What if CFL is
in cahoots with the Others all along and is simply playing a trick on the
rest of the castaways to gain their trust, only to deceive them by stealing
a baby?

On the other hand, CFL could be totally legit – just crazy, and another
Ethan-like Other (maybe the new teacher that has appeared in recent weeks?)
is the one who steals her baby? Either way, we gotta get this baby out of
the main picture one way or the other. Steal it, sacrifice it, do something
with it to get it out of the hands of Claire so that she can become a real
character on the show again rather than a baby-holder.

Last Month's Episode Discussion Points: Top Five Episode for sure. The Black
Rock is finally revealed! A pirate ship?! The mystery of Kate’s toy plane is
fully explained! Shannon is even bitchier! So much to say. Open up my head
and let me out. Baby.

FLASHBACKS. Last week’s flashbacks served an important role to both hint at
the future and show truly how far these characters have come.

1. Michael and Walt – their relationship prior to the island was strained to
say the least, to the point where they were at each others’ throats over
something as simple as the volume of the TV. Now they’re truly a father and
son, sailing off together to avoid something terrible that Walt sensed on
the island.

2. Kate and the Bounty Hunter – the Bounty Hunter was carrying a case of
guns because Kate is seriously dangerous. Yet she shows her heart by doing
everything she could to simply save the toy plane that belonged to her
childhood boyfriend. Summed up her character in a simple scene.

3. Sun and Jin – Sun is doing everything she can to give Jin a good meal
prior to the flight (very subservient) and is super apologetic when she
spills coffee on him. They seem very much "together" as a couple. Now she’s
super independent, he’s on the Raft and she’s on the shore, and their
marriage has been torn down and put back together. My how things have
changed.

4. Boone and Shannon – Shannon is as bitchtastic as ever, Boone is her
whipping boy. Now Boone is dead and Shannon is absolutely a shell of her
former confident cocky self.

5. Sayid – he was basically isolated out and called a terrorist by Shannon,
and now he wants to hook up with her. It’s amazing what a girl in a bathing
suit can do to you!

6. Sawyer – in a police station being accused of a crime, now he’s been
accused of multiple crimes on the island (falsely) and shown true goodness.

7. Jack and Ana-Lucia (girl from Fast and the Furious / Blue Crush) – the
most telling scene of all. Jack is seated in Row 23 (they hit you over the
head with it, people!) and Ana is in Row 42 (whack whack – hello! Cursed
Numbers!). She even specifically states "that’s in the tail of the plane".
So there’s two ways this could go: either Jack runs into her on the island
(meaning the Hatchers find the tail) or someone else finds them and they
don’t realize they’re the tail (but we as the viewers do!) which would mean
the Rafters or Beachers.

ROWS. So Jack is in 23, Ana is in 42. Who’s in 4, 8, 15, 16? Could it be
that all the characters that survived were sitting in one of these rows? I
don’t think the numbers quite add up, but it was a wide plane – at least 7
wide, if memory serves. That would be roughly 42 people. Again, I don’t
think it quite works out, but it’s close.

DEPP. Okay, the Black Rock is not a giant dark piece of stone, but a
freakin’ Pirates of the Caribbean Ship! In the middle of the forest. What?
That explains why there is TNT on it (Pirates like to blow stuff up, of
course), but how did it get there? Did it sail through one of the Bermuda
Triangles that seem to offer a sort of "warp" to the island? How old is it?
Is the Island growing, and where the Black Rock is used to be the coast? If
so, the Island would have to be some sort of volcanic island – which could
explain the black smoke rising from the middle of it as well…

SMOKIN’. Speaking of which – what’s up with that smoke? Is it really just
the center of the volcanic island spewing out some heat? Is it a warning to
anyone nearby that trouble in the form of "Others" is on its way? Is it some
sort of calling beacon? "All Others on the Island gather here – we’re going
castaway huntin’!" Or are they preparing some huge pyre (another word taught
to me by Dave Matthews Band, thank you very much) to be used for a sacrifice
/ ritual? (Turnip Head?)

BABY. Very interesting was the fact that CFL took a great deal of interest
in Turnip Head. Could it be that having a baby is what calls The Others in
the first place? Her having Alex (which turns out to be a girl – so it’s
not Ethan after all!) brought the Others the first time, which resulted in
everyone but her dying. Claire having her baby may be all that is needed to
call the Others again. If this is the case, CFL might just steal Turnip Head
as a way to protect the castaways from the Others!

MONSTER. As I said earlier, it could be that the Monster is going to attack
the Rafters to keep them from leaving the island. But that doesn’t answer
the question "What is the Monster?" Okay, if it’s protecting the Island, is
it some sort of King Kong thing? Is it mechanical, built by the people /
scientists / Others on the island to keep people from revealing their
secrets?

AGUA. The commercials also show Sawyer diving under the water from the Raft.
Is he jumping for protection from something (like the Monster, which turns
out to be some sort of Bird-thing, swooping down on the Raft?) Or could it
be he sees something under the ocean like CFL’s ship wreckage or the tail of
the plane?

TOYS. So it turns out I was pretty close with the "use the toy to torture
Kate and make her feel bad for what she did" idea. But it wasn’t Tom’s wife
or Kate’s dad – it was the Bounty Hunter himself!

SNOOP. Remember what Walt said to Shannon when he gave her Vincent. "Here,
take Vincent – he took care of me / protected me when my mom died." (Okay,
maybe he didn’t talk using a forward slash – but it was something along
those lines.) Is there more than meets the eye to this statement? There have
been hints that there is more to Vincent than meets the eye (he’s a
Transformer? No, silly.) since he always seems to be disappearing when the
Monster appears, and seems very at ease on the Island. Also, Walt is well
aware that there is something big time bad coming to the castaways (thus his
hurry to get on that Raft and off the island!) Did he intentionally leave
Vincent because he knows he has Supernatural powers and truly will protect
them?

RINGS. Why hasn’t Jack been wearing his wedding ring to HBG? Well, per his
conversation with Ana – he’s no longer married! What does this mean? Either
he’s divorced, or HBG died. In my opinion, HBG probably died giving birth to
a baby. Remember how Jack flipped out when a pregnant Claire was in danger?
This would explain that – a lot. It would also explain a lot of Jack’s
psychological issues that seem to be weighing down on him and also how he
could resist the sugary sweet goodness that is Kate on the island. He’s
still in mourning. Not just of his dad, but of his wife / baby.

GROUPS. I’ll refer back to the groups that the castaways have become a part
of. The Rafters are incredibly strong. I could see Sawyer, Michael, Jin, and
Walt handling literally ANYTHING that comes their way. Anything of physical
nature could be handled by Sawyer and Michael. Anything that required smarts
could be handled by Jin. Anything that requires mind-reading or bending
reality could be handled by Walt. They could explore the entire ocean and
come back in one piece!

The Hatchers are truly the "core characters" of the show. Locke and Jack
serve as the natural leaders. Hurley is perhaps the one who ties everyone
together to each other and the Island, and Kate is the strong female lead. I
would think the things that are going to advance the storyline the furthest
are going to come from this group (and in turn, from the Hatch).

The Beachers suck. Nothing personal, but Sayid must have been in the
bathroom when they were picking teams to divide up. He’s got to protect
Shannon, Claire, Charlie, and Turnip Head. Shannon’s probably still going to
be all nasty to him after he didn’t kill Locke for her, and Charlie and
Claire have their own "pseudo-couple" thing going on. Look for them to get
captured by the Others, Sayid to escape and be the only hope of getting the
Hatchers to rescue the rest.

VEGAS. It’s betting time!

DEATH. If I were putting money down, I’d wager someone is going to die
before 10:00 pm EST. Who tops the list?

1. Jin. He reconciled with Sun, they had a touching scene, and he really has
no more backstory to tell that I can think of. That’s the perfect recipe for
him to die! It would also serve to strengthen Jin as a character. (If I can
play "high school girl" for a moment – it was quite touching of Sun to give
him the book of translations for the Raft – and he said he was doing all
this so that he could save her! What a sweetheart! – okay, I’m done).

2. Sawyer. It pains me to even write this because he’s one of my top 3
characters on the show. But think about it – he played the big Ace in his
pocket last episode by telling Jack about the conversation he had with his
dad in Australia prior to the plane taking off. His character has now come
full circle with the redemption theme – from murderer, to martyr for being
accused of everything on the island even when innocent, to doing the right
thing and making Jack aware of his dad’s true feelings.

DIRECTION. At the end of this episode, we should have an idea as to "where
is this show going?" Remember how we weren’t even sure if there was anyone
else on the Island until after the Ethan episode where he stole Claire and
Charlie. That turned the show on its head and proved there was real danger,
and not just imaginary danger. This season finale should serve to do
something very similar. Are there really "Others" on the island? What are
they? What is the sickness? What is in the Hatch? What lies just beyond the
Island? The answers should determine what we’re going to be looking at come
next season.

CLIFF. There was a quote in USA Weekend about Lost two weeks back where the
show’s creators said "Not everyone would be back – it’s too hard to keep 14
characters in the spotlight each week. There will be new characters
introduced as well…" which sounds very contradictory to me – how can you add
new characters without killing off a bunch of existing ones to keep you main
cast numbers reasonable? I’ll tell you how. By leaving characters in limbo.

And the characters I’m talking about are the Rafters. Look for the Rafters’
fate to be left uncertain as the credits roll Wednesday night. Someone on
the Raft will die, the rest of their fates will be uncertain. Next season,
we won’t even hear from them until mid-way through the year (November
sweeps, EM2 people?) when they come back with word from what lies beyond the
Island. That gives the writers plenty of time to introduce new characters
with a reduced cast without killing off much beloved characters.

HANGER. So here’s how I see it all going down:

The Rafters lives hang in the balance as they battle the monster in the
Ocean OR they come across the Tail of the Plane.

Meanwhile, the Beachers are taken prisoners by the Others where they are
about to be executed / tortured.

Meanwhile, the Hatchers open up the Hatch to discover something shocking
that links everyone to each other on the Island or confirms the true nature
of the Island. In the off chance that the Rafters don’t discover the Tail
People, they’ll find them.

So we’ll have all this going on – crazy triple cliffhanger action, when the
screen goes to black and the word LOST appears on it.

The last scene will be one of the groups coming across the Tail of the
Plane. There will be stunned silence from both parties. America will scream,
cheer, throw stuff, and high five. We will then endure the longest four
months of our lives waiting for Lost to come back on the air.

HOUSEKEEPING. So here’s something I’ve wanted to know for a while. How many
people actually read this Email? It started out by just being a little thing
I forwarded to my co-workers who weren’t watching the show analytically
enough. But now it’s grown into a mailing list of over 50 people. If you
wouldn’t mind, if you read this – regardless of you get it directly from me,
or get it forwarded from someone else – Email me and let me know!

END? No, this is not the Last Lost Email of the Year! I’ll write one last
one next week with reactions to the Finale, rankings on the best episodes
and characters of the season, and forecasts for the future. Then America
will see its productivity increase for the next four months as workers once
again have their full day available for work, rather than wasting valuable
company time reading some crazy person talk about a TV show for hours on
end!

PARTY. Come one, come all to the Lost Season Finale Party at the Delta
House. I’ll order some pizza for everyone to eat and enjoy (plus, I’ve found
that if people have food in their mouths, they’re less likely to talk during
the show!). Let me know if you plan on attending so I can order accordingly.

Feel free to stick around for the Alias finale afterwards, which should be
very solid as well.

Hold your breath. It should be a doozy. Happy watching!

Brian

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

LOST (Season Finale Part 1!)

Lost Episode Title: "Exodus (Part 1)"

Character Involved: E V E R Y O N E. Walter. Michael. Claire. Sun. Charlie. Jack. Kate. Sawyer. Sayid. Shannon. Boone. Hurley. Jin. Locke. Vincent? The flashbacks allegedly are for all the main characters BEFORE Flight 815 takes off. (I'm thinking we'll see them all in the Sidney Airport.)

TV Guide Description: The French woman -- Rousseau -- shocks the survivors by showing up with a dire warning about "the others." Meanwhile, Michael and Jin ready the raft for sailing.

Brian's Deeper Meaning Guess: Wow - where to begin? Well, let's start at the beginning. The good book! The book of Exodus is the second book of the Bible, which traces the events from the time that the "chosen people" are enslaved to their escape from Egypt, led by Moses. As I hinted at earlier, doesn't it seem like each castaway was somewhat enslaved by their lives prior to the island? Kate was on the run, Locke was a cripple, Michael didn't know his own son, Walt's mom just died, Shannon and Boone had a freaky love / hate / incest thing going on, Hurley was literally cursed by the numbers, Sawyer unsuccessfully hunted down the man responsible for the death of his parents, Sayid's best buddy blew his brains away, Sun and Jin's marriage was about to evaporate, Claire had a devil spawn baby growing inside her, and Charlie just came off of the three Lord of the Rings movies, forcing him to come to grips with a future where he will never be a part of a bigger movie... oh, and the drug thing. Those might not be physical chains, but they sure are emotional and psychological chains. Who led them to the "freedom" of the island? Is Hurley our Moses figure, causing the plane to crash? Did Walt envision the plane crashing? Is it really Locke, who is guiding all the survivors to "let go" of their past and break the shackles of the chains of their former lives?

Want more? The major themes of Exodus are that of redemption and salvation, along with the making of the covenant between God and Israel. Sound familiar? Remember John Locke? He has seemingly found his heaven on this island, and is making it his job to redeem and save the others on the island (see: Boone, Charlie, Jack, Walt). More importantly, how about his crazy talk / pact with the island? Remember him and the Hatch? He is seemingly bartering with the Island for knowledge. He made the sacrifice of Boone in order to please the Island / open the Hatch. Is this the Island testing him? The religious imagery around Locke as Jesus is too strong to deny.

Still more? Greedy little pig! Okay, how about the part in the book of Exodus about the Israelites crossing the Red Sea? Similarities to the castaways about to set sail on the raft and cross the sea? It's too much. Let's put down the Bible and look to the world of Rastafarianism.

Check the following quote from Bob Marley's "Exodus":

"Open your eyes and look within -
Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?
We know where we’re going;
We know where we’re from.
We’re leaving Babylon, y’all!
We’re going to our father’s land."

Now, in all fairness, the song is also loosely based on the aforementioned book of the Bible, but if you look at the lyrics, were any of the castaways "satisfied with the life they're living?" (that's not a rhetorical question - the answer is no). How about the first line about "Open your eyes and look within - are you satisfied with the life you're living?" - doesn't that just sum up the lives of the survivors in a nutshell? It also seems awfully similar to Charlie's tattoo, which reads: "Living is easy with eyes closed."

Or we can look at it in the simple literal way - Exodus meaning leaving somewhere. The rafters leaving the island. The remaining survivors fleeing their camp to avoid the Others.

All are valid answers.

TV Guide Description Breakdown: So simple, yet so intriguing, just like the TV commercial preview! CFL comes back to warn the castaways about the Others. Does this mean that she now trusts these castaways? Did Hurley win her over when he hugged her back in "Numbers"? Is she trying to prevent other people from succumbing to the "sickness" in an attempt to increase her allies in a fight against the Others? Or does she have more sinister motives? Given the fact that she's crazy, it's hard to read her motives. I think the most likely bet is that the combination of Sayid (who did her no harm) and Hurley (who could relate to her) won her over, and she has the best intentions of the survivors at heart.

But how freaky is her warning? "The Others are coming. You can either run, or hide, or DIE." Besides being very powerful, is there more to read into this? The first thing that popped into my mind is "Why couldn't you fight them? That seems like the logical third choice besides run and hide..." Could it be that the Others aren't human? Or that they're super-strong, like Ethan was in his first fight with Jack? Or could it be that they are something that you can't fight? Could it be that the Others are one and the same to the Sickness? Are the Others infected with this disease, so exposure to them will bring it upon yourself? If you consider Ethan one of "The Others" (which I don't at this point), the only other thing we know about them is that they whisper in the trees. Which brings us to the next point...

Why are the Others coming? Why now? Are they trying to prevent the raft from sailing? This would feed into the whole "the Island is preventing anyone from leaving" theory. Did Locke's banging on the Hatch wake them up? There was the symbolic "light turning on" inside the Hatch after he sacrificed Boone and proved himself. Here's my thought. There is a radio tower on this island, near the Black Rock, that is transmitting CFL's crazy signal. That's pretty much the only radio beacon for quite a distance, given that no one besides the Australian guy who killed himself in Numbers and CFL's crew picked it up over the course of all these years. It stands to reason, that when Boone picked up and used the radio in the Nigerian plane, it was picked up by that radio tower or their equipment before it bounced to the tail end of the plane and was replied to (this is still conjecture at this point, but come on - it has to be!) The show's creators have said that Boone's death "sets in motion the rest of the season" - this could quite literally be the case if it causes the Others to find the survivors. It also gives much more meaning and purpose to his death. I like it.

So, after three paragraphs on the first sentence of the episode description, I should touch on the second sentence. Michael, Jin, Walt, and Sawyer seem to be locks to be on the raft - but what about Vincent? Would Walt leave behind his beloved dog, who may or may not have special powers and a connection to the island? Is the crazy science teacher's warnings true? Who else remembers when Sayid was looking at CFL's maps, there was a big picture of the island, then three smaller islands off the coast - seeing as they're many many many miles from anywhere else to land, I'd say it's most likely they either land on one of these other smaller islands (where they find the tail of the plane) or get blown around to the other side of the main island (where they find the tail of the plane).

Man, how stupid am I going to look when this whole "Tail Plane" idea doesn't happen?

Last Month’s Episode Discussion Points: Great episode. For one, we got to see Kate in makeup, which was a pleasant change (even though she looks better au natural on the island, in my opinion), learned the importance of the toy plane that has been tormenting me for three months, and got enough clues to piece together her full storyline! Also, the wheels were set in motion for the season finale. I'll take it!

DATE. What date did Kate and Tom bury their time capsule? AUGUST 15, 1989 - 8/15 to you and me! Fun with numbers is back! Also, they buried their stuff in an NKOTB lunchbox! Hangin' Tough!

TOYS. Probably most people's number one question after this episode is - "How did the plane get from the car to the safety deposit box?" Here's my theory. Someone must have understood the importance of that plane, and was using it as a way of torturing / blackmailing Kate as a means of punishment for her being responsible for Tom's death. I think the best bet would be Tom's wife, who is now a widow and a single mother, a la Murphy Brown. She was probably jealous of Tom's relationship with Kate all along, and disapproved of Tom's continual support of Kate even when doing so meant endangering himself or his career. I don't quite have all the details worked out, but it's pretty clear (based on Kate's saddened reaction to the discovery of the plane) that is was meant to remind her of the tragedy that her actions caused.

BLOOD. So what did Kate do? Sure, Tom's death was an accident, but remember how the episode started? Kate was changing the license plates to her car and showering the blood off of her hot body. She obviously just violently murdered someone or got off her night shift at the butcher shop. Was this the first crime that she committed? Not likely, she was a pro at this point - storing multiple license plates in her car, wearing a disguise, etc. She's done this before. Is she an assassin for hire? A vigilante going after the "criminals of the world that our justice system cannot punish"? Not sure - but she's not as innocent as we'd all like to believe. (PS - also, did you catch the homage to Psycho as the blood ran down the drain?)

PSYCHO. Speaking of Hitch, why was the mother screaming when Kate showed up at the hospital? I can only think of two reasons:

1. Kate killed her husband, her own father. Why would she do this? The easiest answer is that he had abused her in her childhood. The Kate on the audio tape from 1989 was already dreaming of running away from her life, and she made mentions of "You know why I can't go home." There was bad stuff happening at home. Bad enough to make her kill.

2. Kate faked her death and her mom thought she was seeing a ghost. Perhaps this was the only way that Kate could escape the long arm of the law... of course, the only problem with this is that there wouldn't be so many guards around Kate's Mom's room if Kate was dead. She had to be a wanted criminal. Big time criminal. They even sent a US Marshall to Australia to hunt her down!

TIMELINE. So the timeline of Kate's stories are Born to Run (last week's episode) --> Whatever the Case May Be (Kate robs a bank and gets the toy plane back) --> Tabula Rasa (Kate is in Australia and is captured by the Marshall). Everything fits together pretty well. I could see future episodes being at the very beginning (showing how she started down a path of crime) and one showing the blackmail that puts the toy plane in the safety deposit box. What does this mean? Kate isn't going to be dying in the next two episodes! Yes!

POISON. Every rose has its thorn. Just like every night has its dawn. Kate was the mastermind after all behind the poisoning! But in all fairness, I was right too when I guessed that Sun would be the one responsible. It's interesting that Sun still has such strong feelings for Jin even though he has basically swore her off and refuses to talk to her. He's abandoning the island on the raft, but he's also symbolically abandoning her and their relationship.

TOUCH. Previously, we knew that Walt got visions. Well, this episode ratcheted up his powers a notch. By touching Locke, Walt could see what Locke was thinking or sense the evil of the Hatch that was with him. Walt touches Locke's arm. I'm curious to go back through other episodes and see who else he has touched. Do you think he has insight into what's going on with everyone on the island? Does he know all their terrible secrets? Again, what is going to happen when he touches Turnip Head!?

OHIO. Lastly, in an obvious shout out to the Number One Lost fans in the country, JJ Abrams decided to have Kate driving around in a car with Ohio tags. Admittedly, I was pretty jealous that she was cruisin' in the old school Ohio License Plates that showed the county you were in instead of today's stupid plates that just have numbers representing the counties. How am I supposed to know who is from Cincinnati vs. who is from Cleveland (read: How do I know who to love vs. who to hate if I have to decipher numbers?) In looking for deeper meaning here, how about this? Researching the Shelby Ohio website (http://co.shelby.oh.us/), guess what the "County Seat" (whatever that is!) for Shelby County is? SIDNEY. As in the place that Flight 815 left from. Freaky!

AMSTERDAM. Oh yeah, and remember that letter that Kate was reading and crying about? I found a screen shot of it on the Internet. All I could make out was the following...

to the chemo and the doctors
and there's nothing else they can do. She's still as
and refuse to stay at the hospital
she's growing weaker and fear that
other choice
all of this may be
than anything that
different. I don't know know when this
but I am hoping it's soon
because she might not have much time left
you will be
and prayers.
Love

It seems to just reaffirm her mother was dying of Cancer and there was nothing anyone could do.

PUMPED. I'm not going to lie, I'm probably as excited for the Season Finale of Lost as I've ever been for a TV show. There's something very satisfying of having the mystery of the island revealed in thin layers, instead of huge sweeping explanations. It's like a great mystery that we're all reading together.

DELTA. Come one, come all to see the new and improved Delta House! Our average roommate height has increased by 4 inches! We can now comfortably seat up to 17 people (not including people who want to sit on our newly cleaned floor), and have upped our TV / roommate ratio to 2.5 / person! The couches are vastly more comfortable and the overall smell of the apartment has increased ten-fold! Lost is at 8:00, but feel free to stop by beforehand to get the full tour. It's like Delta House 2.0.

Late.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Embarassingly Short Lost Email

"Together we could break this trap
We’ll run till we drop, baby we’ll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
`Cause baby I’m just a scared and lonely rider..."

- Bruce Springsteen

Lost Episode Title: "Born to Run"

Character Involved: Kate (the hypnotically hot Evangeline Lilly, Part III)

TV Guide Description: Jack suspects foul play when Michael becomes violently ill while building the raft. Meanwhile a secret from Kate's past is revealed, the mysterious hatch is shown to a few of the survivors, and Walt gives Locke a warning.

Brian's Deeper Meaning Guess: Baby we were born to run! Without going into the finer points of the social undertones in the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name, the song is basically about a couple breaking the chains of oppressive society together to avoid the sure-to-come death both physically and mentally that would result from staying in that society.

The phrase "Born to Run" clearly refers to our fair Kate, and her lifestyle that is seemingly always on the run from everything we've seen (robbing banks in America, working on a farm in Australia).

What happened in her past that made her "born" to do this running? It makes it sound like something from her childhood caused this wanderlust, or put her down this path of crime. So what do we really know about Kate's past? She learned climbing / reading tracks in the woods from her dad, she moved around a lot as a kid, she has been married, and she has a toy plane that belonged to a man she loved - a man she killed. Yeah, nothing there that would cause someone to move around a lot! To quote the Sayid episode last week, people who move around a lot "Either are running from something or looking for something" - in Kate's case, I think it's both.

TV Guide Description Breakdown: Michael becoming violently ill? Could this be Walt intentionally poisoning his dad? We all know that Walt wants to stay on the island, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch to see Walt either physically poisoning him, or mentally harming him by thinking evil thoughts. This could prevent the Raft from being completed, and allow Walt to stay on the island with Locke. But... this storyline would be far too close to Walt burning down the Raft a few weeks back. What about Kate slipping him something in hopes of stealing his place on the Raft?

The previews seem to show an argument between Kate and Sawyer for a spot on the Raft, maybe Kate takes the easy way out and decides to take out Michael? Eh... everything we've seen about Kate on the island is that she's generally good despite her past - so this seems out of character. How about Locke? If you remember last week, he warned against the Rafters leaving the island (more on that later). This one has a fighting chance. But my favorite theory - Sun poisoning Michael. She has the tumultuous past with him, she's very into the herbs / plants on the island (so she would know what was poisonous and what wasn't), and it fits nicely into the Michael / Jin / Sun storyline. I still say that killing off Michael makes the most sense to the storylines on the island, and would add Sun to the "People on the island who have killed someone else" list.

A secret from Kate’s past? This has to be the toy plane explanation! Sure, this show has a giant mysterious monster, the kid who has the power to control things with his mind, and a paralyzed man who can now walk - but the one mystery on the show that I have absolutely NO IDEA about is this tiny plane. I've thought this thing back frontwards and backwards, and cannot come up with a single plausible theory that isn't absolutely absurd. I need answers! I suppose it would also be nice to find out the whole "reason for the criminal background" part of Kate explained, but I have decent theories on this already that allow me to get sleep at night. I totally see Freckles as some sort of Environmental Crusader / White Collar Criminal / Person Avenging a Past Wrong who is wanted by the government for their actions but really has a heart of gold. See, one of those is fine. The little plane? Nada. Also, remember, the show's creator promised us the following questions would be answered this season:

1. How Locke can walk.
2. The importance of Kate's toy plane.
3. The background on CFL.

This week sounds like a great time to answer Question #2...

The mysterious hatch looks to be shown to Sayid and Jack (also maybe Kate?). I like the odds of the crafty Iraqi and the brainy Doctor to figure out how to bust this thing open. But I don't like the odds of this happening before the season finale. More interesting is that Walt is giving Locke a warning about "not opening something", clearly referring to the Hatch, but Walt has never seen or heard of the Hatch. What could be the danger inside the Hatch? Up until this point, my theories for the Hatch were as follows:

1. A room filled with computers, where we find that someone has been monitoring everyone on the island all along.
2. An entry way to an underground system of tunnels that connect various parts of the island.
3. A fallout shelter to protect people from the monster / crazy stuff on the island.

But none of those are dangerous enough that Walt would warn against opening the hatch. Which leads me to these new theories:

1. There's some sort of radiation / poison (the sickness?!) that is somehow contained inside that Hatch. Opening it, releases it.
2. The information that is inside the Hatch would cause serious trauma to the people on the island (they're all dead, they're all connected, they're all dreaming?)
3. It's full of the dead people from the CFL's crew.

Again, I don't expect answers on this one until May 25, so don't get your hopes up too high for this week.


Last Month’s Episode Discussion Points: I'm not going to lie. Last week was pretty "Eh". Sayid's backstory was very intriguing and well done, but there wasn't anything too exciting happening on the island. But what really upset me were that there were very few "mysteries", or "hints", or "things for Brian to over-analyze in Email form". So we'll make this short but sweet for certain on the few discussion points that the episode raised:

JC. There have been countless comparisons of Locke to Jesus this season, and last week added another. While washing his bloody shirt, Sayid approaches and notices a large gash in Locke's side - a la Jesus's scar from being stabbed in the side after being hung on the cross. But what was the wound really? A "battle scar" as Locke put it, from the kidney transplant with his father.

WARNING. Did anyone else find it odd that in Locke's explanation of why he knocked out Sayid during his attempted radio broadcast, he said something along the lines of "You don't understand - it would be a bad idea to find the source of the radio signal, just like it's a bad idea to build the raft"? Does Locke know something about what surrounds the island that we don't? Are the survivors safe in the portion of the island that they are on right now, but would be in much more danger out at sea? Should be interesting once that raft sets sail...

ROMANCE. It looks like the short-lived romance of Sayid and Shannon is over. Here's what I don't get - why was Sayid into her anyways? Isn't this the guy that spent the better part of the past few years of his life looking for his past girlfriend Nadia? And now he's going to throw that dedication and potential true love away for a roll in the sand with the shallow, vacuous Shannon? I don't get it.

Was Sayid using her somehow? Are we going to see another flashback of Sayid where he becomes big pimpin' the day the plane crashes and gives up looking for Nadia? I doubt it. Bad storytelling? I hope not, but that's what it looks like to me.

KEYS. How did Shannon know about the briefcase, the keys around Jack's neck, and the guns? I don't remember her being involved in any of the past episodes surrounding the guns, and I thought that Jack was pretty cautious about keeping those guns a secret. I may be missing something, or it may be more sloppy work in storytelling!

NUMBERS. There were a bunch of numbers used in last week's episode. Except for 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. Why pass up the opportunity to add to the "number theme" that's been used throughout the course of the season? Missed opportunities? I'm actually not so sure about the one. If you think about it, the numbers so far have tied CFL, Hurley, Locke, Kate, etc. together. Maybe they don't tie EVERYONE together. Maybe they just keep popping up in people's lives who are "touched" by the curse of the numbers. Since Sayid was on the other side of the world in Iraq, maybe he wasn't touched by them?

FINS. Remember when Walt said "What if there are sharks out there?" when Michael was talking about leaving on the raft? Well, Walt has a nasty way of his thoughts and fears coming true (fire, polar bears, knife throwing). If he and Michael end up on that raft out at sea, watch out. It could be Jaws out there. Foreshadowing!

...and that's it. See what I mean? Very discussion light last week. Why are you trying to foil the Lost Email, writers of the show!?

BONUS. There was a great writeup of Lost in this weekend's USA Weekend feature of the newspaper. The part I liked the best? This part:

So far, the focus has been on only 14 of the 48 crazy survivors, but that'll soon change. "The population of the island will be shaken up," Abrams says, revealing he's now casting new second-season regulars. "Not everyone will be coming back, and other people will be stepping up. Also, the survivors have explored almost none of the island, so next year becomes more mission-driven.

And the inevitable fractious aspects of society-building begin to arise."As for the current season ender, a two-hour finales airing May 25, brace yourself: "We've managed to pull off a cliffhanger that is emotionally satisfying but that demands that people talk about it ALL summer," Lidelof says. "It's a 'Who shot J.R.?' moment.""The end of the season is unabashedly, mind-bendingly shocking," Abrams adds.

UNABASHEDLY, MIND-BENDINGLY SHOCKING. I like the sound of that!
(I'm just hoping he wasn't speaking too literally when he said a "Who shot JR moment" - if you recall, the whole "Who shot JR" thing ended up being a dream - aka - the biggest copout from storytelling ever.)

That's all I got. See, I'm embarrassed at how short this is! I could make up stuff to talk about, or give you a full review of DMB's new CD, "Stand Up" (the band’s best official studio effort since 1998’s "Before These Crowded Streets"), but you've taken up enough of your company's valuable time reading this. Get back to work! Raise shareholder value!

Until next week,

Monday, May 02, 2005

LostLostLostLost

May = Best Month of Lost Ever. Four weeks and five hours of new Losty goodness. Ja bitte! In your face June through April!

Lost Episode Title: "The Greater Good"

Character Involved: Sayid (the loveable Iraqi Part II)

TV Guide Description: After burying one of their own, tempers flare as the castaways' suspicions of each other grow -- and an unlikely survivor vows revenge. Meanwhile, Claire and Charlie struggle to calm her newborn.

Brian's Deeper Meaning Guess: When I hear the phrase "The Greater Good", I think of one thing - sacrificing someone or something "for the greater good", meaning that their loss or death ends up being for the benefit of others to the point where it’s better off that the tragedy happened. In the case of Lost, we must be referring to one of two things:

1. Boone’s death as being for the greater good. But how? What good is going to come from the death of fair Boone with the freaky blue eyes? Well, if his death somehow opened the hatch / led Locke to a greater understanding of the island, it could be that his death leads to the remaining survivors getting off the island / being able to better survive on the island. Remember, it almost seemed like Boone’s death was a necessary part of opening the hatch, and Locke willingly made the trade. Is Locke so blinded by the "magic of the island" that he is willing to kill his friend? Or is Locke truly looking at everything logically, and seeing that a death was needed to open the hatch, realized that opening the hatch was more important than Boone’s life. But that would have to mean that whatever is inside that hatch is a BIG DEAL. What is in that hatch?!?!

2. Going after Locke for the greater good. The rationale from Jack / Sayid / the other survivors at this point is: "Locke is dangerous. We need to kill him to prevent him from hurting anyone else. We need to kill him for the greater good." The commercials show Shannon coaxing Sayid into killing Locke, and last episode ended with Jack saying "I’m going to find John Locke." Both Jack and Sayid have demonstrated how much they DO NOT LIKE killing people and do not want violence to be the answer. However, if they are both convinced that Locke murdered Boone, killing him would protect the rest of the people on the island. It would be for the greater good.

I should point out that this episode was originally titled "Sides". When I first read the episode title a few months back, I figured it had to be the characters choosing whose side they would be on - Jack or Locke seemingly being the two ring leaders. Although back then, I figured it would have something to do with either living in the caves vs. the beach, or choosing to take up arms against "The Others" vs. playing pacifist, it now looks like the "Sides" in question might be whether or not to kill Locke. This is a very polarizing event on the island. Will Locke be able to convince everyone that Boone’s death was an accident or that it was a necessary occurrence, or will Jack / Sayid convince people that Locke must pay for his crime? It should be very interesting…

TV Guide Description Breakdown: Well, the first sentence pretty well puts the nail in Boone’s coffin (literally). He really is dead. Granted, he will likely be back due to flashbacks of Shannon, etc - but that’s it. Tempers flaring due to suspicion are documented fairly well in the previews - showing a lot of shouting, pushing, fighting (and shooting?) between Jack, Sayid, and Locke. The unlikely survivor to go for revenge? I’d say Jack, simply because his character has been so anti-guns, anti-violence, save everyone all along (hey, he must be a democrat!). You could also argue that Sayid is the unlikely revenge-seeker, since he is pretty much doing it at Shannon’s request, even though this is the exact frame of mind that drove him to leave the rest of the survivors so many weeks ago.

His torture of Sawyer quickly brought him back to his Iraqi National Guard past, a past he doesn’t want to remember, a person he doesn’t want to be. If he goes after Locke, guns blazing, he must really want to impress Shannon. Hello, Sayid? Kate is way hotter! What are you thinking buddy?
The deep thinker in me hopes that the last sentence about Claire and Charlie trying to calm the newborn anti-Christ are related to the fact that the baby is pure, unadulterated evil - but I think this is going to be like the time that the TV Guide Preview said "a survivor has mysterious headaches" and then it just turned out that Sawyer needed glasses. Those tricky writers with their obvious and mundane storylines!

Last Month’s Episode Discussion Points: Remember this episode? Jack almost chopped off Boone’s leg, Locke was suspiciously absent, and Sayid tried to hook up with Shannon. Oh yeah, and Boone died. It was a decent episode. It was well made - but it really wasn’t shocking, didn’t really reveal anything else about the island, and we all saw it coming a mile away. Jack’s backstory was interesting, but not good enough to overcome a fairly weak episode. But there are a few points to ponder:

MARRIAGE. First and foremost - did Jack get married or what? The last flashback scene was setup for either he or his wife to walk away from the altar. But then they kissed. So, does that mean they’re married? This would explain why Jack has been resisting Kate thus far on the island, but doesn’t explain why Jack is ring free on all noticeable fingers. I guess my official stance is that Jack and hot blonde girl got married (she will from this point forth be known as HBG, in the same way that Rousseau is known as CFL) but then something happened to break them up. Divorce? Boring. Death? More likely.

WORDS. The biggest and most important thing Boone did in his dying moments was mention to Jack the Hatch, and the fact that Locke is hiding it from them. This should effectively focus the attention on that hatch for the remainder of the season… and the numbers ingrained on it. Also, how fitting that Boone’s last words were "Tell Shannon, tell Shannon…" Doesn’t that pretty much sum up their relationship? Feelings that he couldn’t put into words, or wouldn’t put into words due to the guilt that surrounded their relationship. Oh Boone, such a tortured soul. There’s a lesson here kids: Don’t get romantically involved with your sister in law or you will end up dead.

LOCKE. So Locke is back - is he different? Has he been inside the hatch? Has he had another epiphany on the island? Since Jack now knows about the Hatch, there’s no way Locke can hide it any longer. He has to let everyone in on the secret. The real question becomes "Why has Locke kept it hidden from everyone for so long?" There’s some believable rationale in not telling them about a giant monster, polar bear, or freaky French radio signal, because it would scare people and incite panic. This was a metal hatch in the ground. You have to think that, while Locke is smart, 44 (I believe that is our official number of survivors at this point) heads trying to figure out how to open it would be better than two. Also, it looks as though Locke has regained full use of his legs in the commercial. Were his legs failing him a direct result of his loss of faith in the island? Or was that just adding to the island "testing him" for his worth before revealing the Hatch’s mystery?

WE. Ah, the fun with audio! Remember in the original airing of "Deus Ex Machina", where the audio of the radio voice in the plane was up for debate? If you remember, closed captioning told us the radio said "There were no survivors of Oceanic Flight 815", but those of us who re-listened to the clip for hours on our computers that night (whatever, don’t judge me - what did you do that night that was so important?) heard "WE are the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815!" Adding fuel to the controversy was the new commercial that aired the following weeks, with a new voice-over for the radio, that CLEARLY said "WE ARE", not "There were no". This makes me think that someone realized that this HUGE revelation went unnoticed by the majority of the viewing audience, so they tried to trick us in the previews to think that we just weren’t paying close enough attention the first time. The funny thing is, in the clip show last week, they showed the scene with the original debatable audio again.

Why? Here’s what I think happened. Some crazy marketing people who have no appreciation for surprise and are just trying to make money were like "Wait, no one caught that!" after the original airing. So they messed with the audio in the commercials to BEAT YOU OVER THE HEAD with the message (effectively ruining the surprise and giving the audience no credit for having an imagination). The shows creators were like "Whoa whoa whoa - what’s in Cleveland?" and had them change it back. I’ve read more than one account of Lost producers expressing their disdain for the commercials that are shown for either being misleading or for giving away too much. Damon Lindlhoff’s official stance is "Do not believe anything that airs outside of the 42 minute episode. Commercials are the devil!"

CLIPS. Speaking of which, while many people would fail to look for deeper meaning in the clips episode, "Lost: the Journey", that aired last week - these people are not me. They likely have wives and / or kids, and can’t dedicate large chunks of their evenings to over analysis of TV. Losers! I was watching intently, thinking "What are they focusing on?" The point of the episode was to refresh people of what’s going on in the show and allow them to enjoy the remaining four episodes - therefore, you’d want to focus on the "main storylines" so far, and "set up" upcoming ones. What did they focus on? CLF and The Others.

CFL. Remember CFL? Remember Alex? Remember the Black Rock, the Others, the Voices, and the Sickness? Yeah, me neither. All these storylines have taken a backseat lately with the Hatch, Raft, and Baby taking the driver’s seat. Something tells me that CFL is coming back. Especially with the birth of Claire’s baby (speaking of which, when are we gonna get a name for it? I vote for Alex - wouldn’t that be interesting and feed into the whole "time loop" theory on the island?), CLF can come back either in the capacity to steal the baby and pretend it’s her own, or to "protect the baby" from the evils of the island. This should also lead to Claire showing a distrust for everyone else on the island to have any hand in raising her baby. Remember, raised by anyone other than Claire, this baby is going to be Mr. 666. Expect Claire to take this to the extreme, not letting anyone else hold her baby or help her with the child-rearing.

But I’m getting ahead of myself and stealing thoughts from an upcoming bullet point.

OTHERS. This was the storyline that I would have placed money on back in March. The Survivors vs. the Others in a big battle at the Black Rock. After the Hatch showed up, I went the other route, and you all know I’m now firmly in the "Tail of the Plane" camp. But… that clips show was awfully "Others" heavy. The voices that Sayid heard, the entire CFL speech about her compadres becoming "sick" once they came back from the Black Rock, etc. What if the Others in question are actually the survivors from the tail of the plane? What if the hatch somehow leads to the Others hideout? I’ve given up on this storyline much to easy! Are we lucky enough to get all these storylines tying together at season end? I was just banking on one or two of them being revealed… but now I think we might get all of them!

BABY. What is the over / under for this child surviving? Are we really going to have a newborn baby on this island? With the slow pace of the show (each episode taking up about two days on the island), they’ll have to recast this role every month! Or will we have a Hoby-like growing of the child (sorry about the obscure Baywatch reference - for you Star Wars nerds out there, what about how Anniken is all the sudden the same age as Natalie Portman in Episode II, when he’s like 15 years younger than her in Episode I - poor story telling Mr. Lucas!) where he’s all the sudden six or seven years old and is playing with Walt? This could easily setup the great Mr. 666 vs. Walt battle of good vs. evil, but is unlikely.

Best bets on the baby:
1. Getting kidnapped by the Others.
2. Getting kidnapped by CFL.
3. Getting sacrificed by the Others.
4. Dying by natural / cosmic causes.
5. Being eaten by a hungry Hurley.

Sorry for the crass - I just can’t imagine how that baby is going to survive on the island!

RAFT. Things are coming along nicely. My official picks for people who will sail away on the raft: Michael, Walt, Saywer, and Sayid. The hot theory on the internet is that the raft will set sail for the set of three smaller islands CFL had drawn on her map. I’m not sold on this… yet. I don’t think the raft will set sail before the finale, so that it can play into the "Exodus" title, so we can discuss this in future weeks.

DEATH. Remember my official stance on island deaths? That Boone would die, but so would someone else? I still stand by that. In fact, I’ll give you my top 3 most likely deaths before season end:
1. Michael
2. Jin
3. Sawyer

And the three least likely deaths:
1. Locke
2. Kate
3. Sayid

SHOT. Lastly, I’ll make another wager about the "shooting of Locke" seen in this week’s commercials. Refer back to my last point. There is NO WAY Locke is dying. No way. Even in my wildest, "What would really shock people and be crazy" dreams, Locke is staying alive on this island. He’s too integral to everything, and has been developed the most of any character, while still having tons of mystery about him. He’s a writer’s dream. So what do we see in the commercial? We see smoke and "hear" a gunshot. Like we "heard" the new voice over on the plane radio? I’m not buying. If Locke truly gets shot, he’s living through it and will somehow have been made invincible by the island. If not, someone is shooting a blank, or smoke is rising from something else and Locke is falling down for another reason.

MUSIC. Isn’t it ironic how the last two episodes of the season are famous song titles? Pretty cool if you ask me - also, they’re both about "fleeing" and "escaping".

May 11. 1.22 Kate-centric. "Born to Run"
May 18. 1.23 Everybody-centric. "Exodus, Part One"
May 25. 1.24 Everybody-centric. "Exodus, Part Two" and "Exodus, Part Three"

Yes, May is a very good month.


PS - Alias is really good again, you guys can start watching again if you’ve fallen off the wagon. It is once again an officially sanctioned TV show of the Lost Email. What are the other officially sanctioned shows of the Lost Email, you ask?
Monday - 24
Tuesday - Scrubs, the Office
Wednesday - Lost, Alias
Thursday - the OC
Sunday - Desperate Housewives, Family Guy


Delta House is where it’s at! Two turn tables and a microphone!: "The Greater Good"
Character Involved: Sayid (the loveable Iraqi Part II)
TV Guide Description: After burying one of their own, tempers flare as the castaways' suspicions of each other grow -- and an unlikely survivor vows revenge. Meanwhile, Claire and Charlie struggle to calm her newborn.
Brian's Deeper Meaning Guess: When I hear the phrase "The Greater Good", I think of one thing - sacrificing someone or something "for the greater good", meaning that their loss or death ends up being for the benefit of others to the point where it’s better off that the tragedy happened. In the case of Lost, we must be referring to one of two things:
1. Boone’s death as being for the greater good. But how? What good is going to come from the death of fair Boone with the freaky blue eyes? Well, if his death somehow opened the hatch / led Locke to a greater understanding of the island, it could be that his death leads to the remaining survivors getting off the island / being able to better survive on the island. Remember, it almost seemed like Boone’s death was a necessary part of opening the hatch, and Locke willingly made the trade. Is Locke so blinded by the "magic of the island" that he is willing to kill his friend? Or is Locke truly looking at everything logically, and seeing that a death was needed to open the hatch, realized that opening the hatch was more important than Boone’s life. But that would have to mean that whatever is inside that hatch is a BIG DEAL. What is in that hatch?!?!
2. Going after Locke for the greater good. The rationale from Jack / Sayid / the other survivors at this point is: "Locke is dangerous. We need to kill him to prevent him from hurting anyone else. We need to kill him for the greater good." The commercials show Shannon coaxing Sayid into killing Locke, and last episode ended with Jack saying "I’m going to find John Locke." Both Jack and Sayid have demonstrated how much they DO NOT LIKE killing people and do not want violence to be the answer. However, if they are both convinced that Locke murdered Boone, killing him would protect the rest of the people on the island. It would be for the greater good.
I should point out that this episode was originally titled "Sides". When I first read the episode title a few months back, I figured it had to be the characters choosing whose side they would be on - Jack or Locke seemingly being the two ring leaders. Although back then, I figured it would have something to do with either living in the caves vs. the beach, or choosing to take up arms against "The Others" vs. playing pacifist, it now looks like the "Sides" in question might be whether or not to kill Locke. This is a very polarizing event on the island. Will Locke be able to convince everyone that Boone’s death was an accident or that it was a necessary occurrence, or will Jack / Sayid convince people that Locke must pay for his crime? It should be very interesting…

TV Guide Description Breakdown: Well, the first sentence pretty well puts the nail in Boone’s coffin (literally). He really is dead. Granted, he will likely be back due to flashbacks of Shannon, etc - but that’s it. Tempers flaring due to suspicion are documented fairly well in the previews - showing a lot of shouting, pushing, fighting (and shooting?) between Jack, Sayid, and Locke. The unlikely survivor to go for revenge? I’d say Jack, simply because his character has been so anti-guns, anti-violence, save everyone all along (hey, he must be a democrat!). You could also argue that Sayid is the unlikely revenge-seeker, since he is pretty much doing it at Shannon’s request, even though this is the exact frame of mind that drove him to leave the rest of the survivors so many weeks ago. His torture of Sawyer quickly brought him back to his Iraqi National Guard past, a past he doesn’t want to remember, a person he doesn’t want to be. If he goes after Locke, guns blazing, he must really want to impress Shannon. Hello, Sayid? Kate is way hotter! What are you thinking buddy?
The deep thinker in me hopes that the last sentence about Claire and Charlie trying to calm the newborn anti-Christ are related to the fact that the baby is pure, unadulterated evil - but I think this is going to be like the time that the TV Guide Preview said "a survivor has mysterious headaches" and then it just turned out that Sawyer needed glasses. Those tricky writers with their obvious and mundane storylines!

Last Month’s Episode Discussion Points: Remember this episode? Jack almost chopped off Boone’s leg, Locke was suspiciously absent, and Sayid tried to hook up with Shannon. Oh yeah, and Boone died. It was a decent episode. It was well made - but it really wasn’t shocking, didn’t really reveal anything else about the island, and we all saw it coming a mile away. Jack’s backstory was interesting, but not good enough to overcome a fairly weak episode. But there are a few points to ponder:
MARRIAGE. First and foremost - did Jack get married or what? The last flashback scene was setup for either he or his wife to walk away from the altar. But then they kissed. So, does that mean they’re married? This would explain why Jack has been resisting Kate thus far on the island, but doesn’t explain why Jack is ring free on all noticeable fingers. I guess my official stance is that Jack and hot blonde girl got married (she will from this point forth be known as HBG, in the same way that Rousseau is known as CFL) but then something happened to break them up. Divorce? Boring. Death? More likely.
WORDS. The biggest and most important thing Boone did in his dying moments was mention to Jack the Hatch, and the fact that Locke is hiding it from them. This should effectively focus the attention on that hatch for the remainder of the season… and the numbers ingrained on it. Also, how fitting that Boone’s last words were "Tell Shannon, tell Shannon…" Doesn’t that pretty much sum up their relationship? Feelings that he couldn’t put into words, or wouldn’t put into words due to the guilt that surrounded their relationship. Oh Boone, such a tortured soul. There’s a lesson here kids: Don’t get romantically involved with your sister in law or you will end up dead.
LOCKE. So Locke is back - is he different? Has he been inside the hatch? Has he had another epiphany on the island? Since Jack now knows about the Hatch, there’s no way Locke can hide it any longer. He has to let everyone in on the secret. The real question becomes "Why has Locke kept it hidden from everyone for so long?" There’s some believable rationale in not telling them about a giant monster, polar bear, or freaky French radio signal, because it would scare people and incite panic. This was a metal hatch in the ground. You have to think that, while Locke is smart, 44 (I believe that is our official number of survivors at this point) heads trying to figure out how to open it would be better than two. Also, it looks as though Locke has regained full use of his legs in the commercial. Were his legs failing him a direct result of his loss of faith in the island? Or was that just adding to the island "testing him" for his worth before revealing the Hatch’s mystery?
WE. Ah, the fun with audio! Remember in the original airing of "Deus Ex Machina", where the audio of the radio voice in the plane was up for debate? If you remember, closed captioning told us the radio said "There were no survivors of Oceanic Flight 815", but those of us who re-listened to the clip for hours on our computers that night (whatever, don’t judge me - what did you do that night that was so important?) heard "WE are the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815!" Adding fuel to the controversy was the new commercial that aired the following weeks, with a new voice-over for the radio, that CLEARLY said "WE ARE", not "There were no". This makes me think that someone realized that this HUGE revelation went unnoticed by the majority of the viewing audience, so they tried to trick us in the previews to think that we just weren’t paying close enough attention the first time. The funny thing is, in the clip show last week, they showed the scene with the original debatable audio again.
Why? Here’s what I think happened. Some crazy marketing people who have no appreciation for surprise and are just trying to make money were like "Wait, no one caught that!" after the original airing. So they messed with the audio in the commercials to BEAT YOU OVER THE HEAD with the message (effectively ruining the surprise and giving the audience no credit for having an imagination). The shows creators were like "Whoa whoa whoa - what’s in Cleveland?" and had them change it back. I’ve read more than one account of Lost producers expressing their disdain for the commercials that are shown for either being misleading or for giving away too much. Damon Lindlhoff’s official stance is "Do not believe anything that airs outside of the 42 minute episode. Commercials are the devil!"
CLIPS. Speaking of which, while many people would fail to look for deeper meaning in the clips episode, "Lost: the Journey", that aired last week - these people are not me. They likely have wives and / or kids, and can’t dedicate large chunks of their evenings to over analysis of TV. Losers! I was watching intently, thinking "What are they focusing on?" The point of the episode was to refresh people of what’s going on in the show and allow them to enjoy the remaining four episodes - therefore, you’d want to focus on the "main storylines" so far, and "set up" upcoming ones. What did they focus on? CLF and The Others.
CFL. Remember CFL? Remember Alex? Remember the Black Rock, the Others, the Voices, and the Sickness? Yeah, me neither. All these storylines have taken a backseat lately with the Hatch, Raft, and Baby taking the driver’s seat. Something tells me that CFL is coming back. Especially with the birth of Claire’s baby (speaking of which, when are we gonna get a name for it? I vote for Alex - wouldn’t that be interesting and feed into the whole "time loop" theory on the island?), CLF can come back either in the capacity to steal the baby and pretend it’s her own, or to "protect the baby" from the evils of the island. This should also lead to Claire showing a distrust for everyone else on the island to have any hand in raising her baby. Remember, raised by anyone other than Claire, this baby is going to be Mr. 666. Expect Claire to take this to the extreme, not letting anyone else hold her baby or help her with the child-rearing.
But I’m getting ahead of myself and stealing thoughts from an upcoming bullet point.
OTHERS. This was the storyline that I would have placed money on back in March. The Survivors vs. the Others in a big battle at the Black Rock. After the Hatch showed up, I went the other route, and you all know I’m now firmly in the "Tail of the Plane" camp. But… that clips show was awfully "Others" heavy. The voices that Sayid heard, the entire CFL speech about her compadres becoming "sick" once they came back from the Black Rock, etc. What if the Others in question are actually the survivors from the tail of the plane? What if the hatch somehow leads to the Others hideout? I’ve given up on this storyline much to easy! Are we lucky enough to get all these storylines tying together at season end? I was just banking on one or two of them being revealed… but now I think we might get all of them!
BABY. What is the over / under for this child surviving? Are we really going to have a newborn baby on this island? With the slow pace of the show (each episode taking up about two days on the island), they’ll have to recast this role every month! Or will we have a Hoby-like growing of the child (sorry about the obscure Baywatch reference - for you Star Wars nerds out there, what about how Anniken is all the sudden the same age as Natalie Portman in Episode II, when he’s like 15 years younger than her in Episode I - poor story telling Mr. Lucas!) where he’s all the sudden six or seven years old and is playing with Walt? This could easily setup the great Mr. 666 vs. Walt battle of good vs. evil, but is unlikely.
Best bets on the baby:
1. Getting kidnapped by the Others.
2. Getting kidnapped by CFL.
3. Getting sacrificed by the Others.
4. Dying by natural / cosmic causes.
5. Being eaten by a hungry Hurley.
Sorry for the crass - I just can’t imagine how that baby is going to survive on the island!
RAFT. Things are coming along nicely. My official picks for people who will sail away on the raft: Michael, Walt, Saywer, and Sayid. The hot theory on the internet is that the raft will set sail for the set of three smaller islands CFL had drawn on her map. I’m not sold on this… yet. I don’t think the raft will set sail before the finale, so that it can play into the "Exodus" title, so we can discuss this in future weeks.
DEATH. Remember my official stance on island deaths? That Boone would die, but so would someone else? I still stand by that. In fact, I’ll give you my top 3 most likely deaths before season end:
1. Michael
2. Jin
3. Sawyer
And the three least likely deaths:
1. Locke
2. Kate
3. Sayid

SHOT. Lastly, I’ll make another wager about the "shooting of Locke" seen in this week’s commercials. Refer back to my last point. There is NO WAY Locke is dying. No way. Even in my wildest, "What would really shock people and be crazy" dreams, Locke is staying alive on this island. He’s too integral to everything, and has been developed the most of any character, while still having tons of mystery about him. He’s a writer’s dream. So what do we see in the commercial? We see smoke and "hear" a gunshot. Like we "heard" the new voice over on the plane radio? I’m not buying. If Locke truly gets shot, he’s living through it and will somehow have been made invincible by the island. If not, someone is shooting a blank, or smoke is rising from something else and Locke is falling down for another reason.

MUSIC. Isn’t it ironic how the last two episodes of the season are famous song titles? Pretty cool if you ask me - also, they’re both about "fleeing" and "escaping".
May 11. 1.22 Kate-centric. "Born to Run"
May 18. 1.23 Everybody-centric. "Exodus, Part One"
May 25. 1.24 Everybody-centric. "Exodus, Part Two" and "Exodus, Part Three"

Yes, May is a very good month.


PS - Alias is really good again, you guys can start watching again if you’ve fallen off the wagon. It is once again an officially sanctioned TV show of the Lost Email. What are the other officially sanctioned shows of the Lost Email, you ask?
Monday - 24
Tuesday - Scrubs, the Office
Wednesday - Lost, Alias
Thursday - the OC
Sunday - Desperate Housewives, Family Guy


Delta House is where it’s at! Two turn tables and a microphone!