Tuesday, March 30, 2010

"The Package" Instant Reactions

True story - I was without Internet until about 8:45 pm EST tonight... and was going to have to do this via Blackberry tonight, which would have been absolutely terrible. Then magically, the Internet came back just in time - thank you Jacob.


Brian's One Word Review: Annoying.

Pick your least favorite part of this week's episode. The candidates are:

  1. The super annoying "V" logo and countdown clock in the corner of the screen for 75% of the episode.
  2. Sun losing her ability to speak English, in the most pointless and annoying plot twist since Terri Bauer's amnesia in the first Season of 24. Generally, you do things like this to stretch out a storyline when you have no other ideas. Really Lost? You have 8 episodes left and a laundry list of unresolved storylines. I'm disappointed.
  3. The fact that the episode plodded along and once again felt like a "setup" episode, making it the third or fourth such episode this season. That's a hell of a lot of setup. Here's hoping it all pays off.

On the other hand, it was great to finally see Desmond again - even if it was only for a few seconds at the end of the episode... and most everyone was predicting that it was Desmond behind Widmore's locked door of the submarine since he HAD to return to the show at some point... and like I said, time was running out.

So what did we learn this week?

Widmore. So... Widmore is a good guy? He told Jin that if SmokeLocke leaves the Island, we all cease to exist. That is considerably different than "going to hell", which I interpreted to mean "bad things happen in the world". Ceasing to exist conjures up theories about SmokeLocke ripping apart the space-time continuum by leaving the Island or making all realities merge into one another and explode. It also gives us yet another parallel to the plot of "Dogma". Kevin Smith, we're about 8 episodes away from you suing the Lost writers for copyright infringement.

Of course, that is if we are to believe Widmore. He has a spotty track record, but he gave a pretty heartfelt speech to Jin about loving Penny - so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt this week. Perhaps Widmore will end up being on Team Jacob after all - even though that would put him on the same side as Ben, which I never thought would happen.


Desmond. Why did Widmore need to bring Desmond back to the Island? I'm guessing it's related to the fact that Zoe (Widmore's Science-y Girl) is looking for pockets of electromagnetic matter on the Island. We've always been told that Desmond is special - and now I'm guessing that he's going to be the one that either can match power with SmokeLocke... or sink the Island. Either way, it's going to be tied to Desmond's implosion of the Swan Station and his close encounter with the unique electromagnetic properties of the Island.

I am seriously worried about Desmond and Penny getting a happy ending at this point.


Flash Sideways. Meanwhile, in the Flash Sideways, we confirmed that Sun and Jin were not married (as predicted after "LA X"), that Sun's father knew that Jin was having relations with her - and ordered a hit on Jin (which makes you wonder if he would have done the same in Reality #1, had Oceanic 815 safely landed in LAX), and that sometimes the universe just wants some people to have only one eye (sorry Patchy)... and we kept our streak alive with each character looking into a mirror during their Flash Sideways.

I have to assume this is all building to something (like maybe the characters from Reality #1 will eventually "jump" to their consciousness in Reality #2 at these mirror moments?) - but just like the Kate and Sawyer Flash Sideways storyline, this week ended with a bit of a cliffhanger, so we'll definitely have to revisit this one at some point in the future.


Go Dayton Flyers! Finally, the biggest news of the evening is that the Dayton Flyers continued their quest for an NIT championship by hanging on to defeat Ole Miss. The Championship game is Thursday night at 7:00 pm. Come on Flyers! I want a new banner hanging in UD Arena!


Okay, that's all I got. Do I really need to do an analysis of this episode? You guys better post some good questions - because right now, this definitely feels like a super straightforward setup episode without a lot to dissect.

Discuss!


71 comments:

Chris Bobb said...

Agreed.....she can't speak English anymore....really LOST? You are better than that.

Unknown said...

I love your blog, Brian, but I have to disagree. I thought it was a pretty good episode. Perhaps you just feel letdown after last week's all-time great episode. It was certainly better than the Kate, Jack, and Sawyer episodes.

I do have a question: why do you think this season is getting the lowest ratings of any season? I never thought I'd see any LOST episode get under 10 million viewers, but that's been the average for the whole season. As the final season, I was expecting much better numbers, and I can only imagine ABC is super disappointed.

Eric Antoine Scuccimarra said...

The comment about everything ceasing to exist kind of threw me a bit. Maybe that particular reality will cease to exist and everything will revert to a timeline created back when Smokey was originally trapped on the island? Or maybe we'll just lose this reality and go to the sideways one?

I've also been wondering if maybe Jacob made some mistakes with the candidates and maybe crossed off some people who shouldn't have been crossed off... like maybe Desmond or even Widmore?

The thing that confuses me the most is how to reconcile the fact that Smokey says he was once a person who was trapped on the island with the fact that he needs to stay there for all eternity or the world implodes. Unless that whole story was a lie.

control said...

Episode was always going to be a let down after last week.

Off island to me will start coming together, I expect to see Sun at Jack's hospital in the next installment of "As the ALT Turns".

I agreed initially with your assessment of Sun's speach ailment. But when Jack gave her the pad all I could think about was Nick Andros from The Stand. In the end I think this book's influence will be very evident.

Rebecca said...

I was SO annoyed at her sudden loss of English too. Like we need any more delays or breaks in communication. Ugh. The V is super annoying, I haven't watched the show and won't be. It's a show that's already been a show (and a movie if I'm not mistaken) lol. I'm hoping for a happy Sun/Jin ending SOMEWHERE so maybe she'll be okay in the sideways and they'll have their little family...unless daddy Paik gets to them first. As for our first reality Paik already had a hit on Jin, the guy in the bathroom warned him that he was watching. The preview for next week almost made me cry already. Worried about some people. Seeing Des was great but I'm concerned about his future with Penny & Charlie too!

Brian said...

When Jack gave Sun the pad of paper to write with, all I could think of was the all-time Buffy classic episode "Hush", and the hilarious Buffy stabbing motion scene in the school auditorium.

ninja raiden said...

All I'm gonna say about Sun's lack of English is moderate consciousness traveling between the Alt world and Lost Prime. See "Flashes Before your Eyes" and "The Constant". Also wager that Desmond travels back and forth between the two universes patching things up. I bet the Alt universe is what happens when Smokey gets off the Island and Desmond,with the help of Hawking and Widmore "course corrects" that situation.

Unknown said...

I actually thought this episode was great. We got some new info about what needs to happen (smokeLocke needs to get all the candidates together to leave), Desmond returned and I think his 'abilities' related to the electromagnetic experience will play a big part. I liked that a lot of the dialogue paralleled older episodes - smokeLocke "whatever happens, happens", widmore "what's done is done." And I was thinking that Sun not being able to speak English had something to do with the fact that she doesn't speak English in the alternate reality.

Unknown said...

I'm starting to agree with Aly's last point, about Sun losing her ability to speak English on the island is directly related to the FlashSideways. I'm not quite sure how or why, but it's certainly something to think about.

Also, this episode was great just for the line from SmokeLocke to Widmore. (Paraphrasing) "A wise man once said a war was coming to this island...I think it just got here." Even when he's not actually Locke, Terry O'Quinn is a BAMF.

Unknown said...

Rusty- I think that Lost requires undivided attention every single week and sometimes re-watching or discussing episodes, more than any series on TV now and maybe ever. So it would make sense that with every season and every episode, less and less people can keep up and start watching online at later dates or just not watching at all. Not everyone is a Lostie nerdo like us.

Unknown said...

Control- I know! The Stand is my favorite book and I'm a literature student I love all of the book influences on this series, but the Stand is a great influence from Randall Flagg which they have said is a good influence for the AJ character to the division into two camps that battle it out. But I love the Nick Andros thing, that would make Sun Tom Cullen hahaha. M-O-O-N that spells hilarious

timcourtois said...

It was confirmed tonight that Smokey doesn't know Kate is a candidate. And did you catch the subtle hints he gave to Claire that once he's finished using Kate, Claire can kill her if she wants to? Wow. Methinks not knowing Kate is a candidate is going to bite him in the butt.

I liked tonight. The not speaking English thing was pointless, yes, but everything else had me riveted.

It seems like a lot of fans are so worried about how things will end that it's becoming hard to enjoy the ride...

Dharma Mayonnaise said...

I agree that the Sun loss of language was pretty cheesy but the episode was pretty decent overall.

I have to say that I thought Sawyer's "cause that would be ridiculous!" line was hilarious.

Regarding viewership, I can't remember what podcast I was listening to but they talked about that with Lost and how impressed they were that ABC stuck with them given the show's premise. They made the point that it's one of the only show that you're guaranteed to never have new viewers because the story's so involved that it can't be picked up mid-show/season or watched casually.

Isaac said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vidya said...

I thought about something when I saw the dialog between Sayid and Smokelocke. He said he cannot feel anything...and Smokelocke said it is better that way for the future or something to that effect. I wonder if Sayid is going to become the next Smokey - "loose his soul and body". Also...maybe Desmond is going to become the next Alpert (because of this thing with the electromagnetic energy of the island). So Jack = Jacob. Sayid = Smokey and Desmond = Alpert.

Pedro dos Santos said...

There's definitely something going on when Sun looks into the mirror, she makes a weird pause looking at the reflection.

Isaac said...

Brian - if you are right about the lack of English being a "filler" then I will be really disappointed in the writers BUT I really believe it has everything to do with the flash sideways. Sure it may have something to do with Sun not speaking English in FS but I think more importantly the writers were also trying to draw parallels with Jin bumping his head. Why else would the writers make it a point for Keamy to jump on Omar about it? And did anyone else feel like Jin began to understand Omar & Keamy after that happened? Maybe not...

And I think you are right on about Desmond and the hatch. I can't wait to see what the island has in store for him!

Unknown said...

long time reader, first time poster. Brian, you're the ONLY blog I've ever read for 5 years lol.

I thought the man in black was just lying to Claire about Kate being a candidate. No way "pure evil" is going to overlook a pretty important part of getting off the island (killing all the candidates /making sure they are off the island with him too). He just wanted Claire to stay on his side and probably would have said anything.

And yes, Sawyer's "Because that would be ridiculous" line is easily in the top 5 funniest things ever said on Lost.

PHG said...

flyers. nuff said.

Christoph said...

hurley bird?

i want answers.

Christoph said...

and

"we all cease to exist"

i think was just fancy widmore-speak for we're all dead-meat.

Rocket Science Mom said...

Just call me a fan girl and leave it at that. I can't express how much I am loving each and every episode. This show is amazing, and I love the characters.

It seemed poignant that Sun couldn't speak English, given that Jin couldn't in the beginning. LIke they are yin/yang to each other. And taking away her voice made her sit down and think about what she wanted to do, rather than run through the jungle looking for her husband.

Cried when Jack asked her to come with them.

Cried when Jim saw pictures of his daughter for the first time.

Continue to be creeped out by Clair. Disappointed, again, that we still don't know who Juliet shot!

I have loved every single "filler" episode of this show because to me, Lost is about these Characters. The "stuff" they have to do to save the world is almost beside the point. I just want to be along on their journey, and to make sure they end up there.

Thank you, Damon and Carlton, you and your show will never be forgotten, at least by this fan girl.

Unknown said...

Also, I think it's great that the Dharma Initiative is involved again, however minorly. Widmore seems to be using some of their work for what ever he wants to do with the island, which sort of justifies all the time given to Dharma in previous seasons. It will probably have something to do with Desmond's role too.

And good questions from everyone else:
Why did Keamy make such a big thing about Jin hitting his head?
What is going on with Sayid?

Anonymous said...

Here's my two cents on the Sun-suddenly-not-speaking-English issue: Personally, it didn't bother me as much as it seems to have bothered other people. And from the sounds of it, it's only a temporary thing (which I suppose could lead to it seeming pointless). But what I mostly got from it was the way that it happened. A couple people kind of hinted at it already, but I think that when Sun ran into the tree and knocked herself out, her consciousness slipped into the Flash Sideways reality (when Sun was looking in the mirror). When her consciousness came back to the Island reality, I think it brought back some Flash-Sideways-Sun characteristics (i.e. not being able to speak English). Just a though, but it plays nicely into that whole being-able-to-send-your-consciousness-to-another-reality theory that you had going on.

As for Widmore being on the "good" Jacob side, do you think it's possible that Widmore somehow knew that Flocke was going to use Ben to kill Jacob, and that's why Widmore tried coming to the island to kill Ben in the first place? Although that doesn't really explain why he was going to kill everyone else too...

Unknown said...

@Tim I'd say it's about 99.9% likely that SmokeLocke was just lying to Claire about Kate to, you know, get everything to go his way.

robpatt said...

i felt like this episode was just recap and filler. Establishing Jacob's lighthouse and smokeys cave. Smokey saying he needs 3 more people and that he manipulates to get them. (Im guessing its Jack, Hurley, and Sun??? so smokey doesn't know if its jin or sun either) We established Desmond on the island, and it looks like the beach camp is actually going to do something.... maybe... sometime.

It was really interesting to see all the parallels in the Flash Sideways and even though its a sideways, with all this consciousness talk, it seems more and more like the conclusion. I wonder if this is the Desmond from that reality pulled over here? He just disappeared from the plane during the turbulance in LA X right???

I am glad that apparently Dharma might have had a significance, and pushing the button might very well have been a part of containing smokey after all. That is my pet theory and i'm sticking to it. Looks like the rediculously equipped coming from a sub team might be building a new hatch. They have everything in that sub. Maybe Miles dad will be in another door. :-)

Brian: I thought your one word would be setup.

Also, i'm confused, i though there were more episodes left. Is it 6 and the 2 part finale?

the only good part of the V premiere is seeing Juliet. I hope she finds a good guy in her alien war. I'm just not going to watch the show.

Unknown said...

I have to agree, or at least hope for the sake of the show, that her losing the ability to speak English is a possible cross over from the other time line in much the same way as we have seen scars and other little things cross over into the alt time line.

It's massively disappointing when there are under 10 episodes left and some of them suck.

Brian said...

dc rayne- Great point about Sun being hit in the head (running into the tree) causing her to in some way consciousness shift from one time line to other.

Remember how Desmond returned to real time after going back in time in "Flashes Before Your Eyes"?

Answer: By getting a face full of cricket bat at the pub.

I can't believe this is actually a theory I have now, but maybe a good whack to the head may cause someone to consciousness shift if they are electromagnetically unstable or something. Just a thought.

Uff said...

Losing the voice forced her to sit down and reflect. Losing the voice was a setup that lead to her admitting she is "trusting Jack" and establishing her alliance to Jacob's team.

Jack lying to her about getting on the plane was a little weird, IMO.
He has become fanatic about the island, almost a little too out there.

Khmer Rouge said...

I'm in agreement with the many folks here who pointed out that Sun's head trauma coincided with the flash sideways and her looking in the mirror with a puzzled expression.

That's the first time since Jack that one of the ALT characters has felt something strange looking at themselves in the mirror. Interestingly, it's always been related to a physical injury - Jack's appendectomy scar, Sun's bump on the head. They also took care to make us notice Jin's head wound, and Sawyer must have cut his hand up when he punched the mirror in his ALT story.

Whether these are just storytelling devices or actual plot points remains to be seen.

I'm thinking a re-watching of "The Constant" would be helpful heading into next week. It seems likely that Desmond's abilities will be used to combat SmokeLocke. In "The Constant," the stakes were winning Penny back and saving his own life. In the future I think the stakes will be much higher...

nickflight said...

When Sun lost the ability to speak English I thought it was the suckiest, stupidest thing I have seen happen on Lost. After reading the discussion of consciousnesses jumping across realities and how what has happened to Sun might be a bleed over from the Off Island reality I think that it has potential to be one of the most significant and cool clues this season to date...

... I just hope she gets her language back soon because I don't want another episode of her talking with a pad.

Michael said...

Two thoughts - I'm not sure how the losing English - flash sideways connection really works, since the on-island action is take place years after what we're saying in the flash sideways. The flash sideways are also flashing backwards.

Also, as fun as it is to have Desmond back on the island, I was really, really hoping that the package would be Walt.

nickflight said...

Agreed! Walt would have been cool...

...still with next weeks featured character being Desmond it has potential to top last weeks Alpertcentric episode! He seemed extremely drugged up, it looked like he didn't even recognise Sayid. It is so weird having him on the plane in the LA X episode.

I wonder if the reason that Widmore has brought Des back to the island is connected to the Electromagnetic pockets he was asking Jin about. I am wondering if anybody knows when he might have signed the maps. I am assuming it was when he worked with Dharma and he used to drive around exploring and surveying the island. What was his name when he was with Dharma? Zoe said the maps were signed Jin-Soo Kwon. Also, how and when do you think that Widmore got his hands on the maps?

Bob said...

I'm in agreement with the cross over language and expect to get some confirmation in the way of Sun in the hospital suddenly speaking English. Also, I enjoy the links to The Stand, but am wondering where the Breakfast of Champions people are. Back where I come from, we call mirrors leaks because we can see into other parallel worlds. If it's a parallel world, I don't think the timeline has to be consistent.

hrnygy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Steve said...

Not speaking english was something that flocke did to her to stumble their plans.

Steve said...

If brian's island singing theory is true, then perhaps the flash sideways aren't really sideways at all. Perhaps it is the future after the island is sunk.. what life would have been without Jacob's influence. Both realities existed... but it's been partially erases(like the memeory flasher thing in Men in Black.. oh, the irony)
Perhaps moments like the mirrors, or seeing others who shared this experience, such Jack seeing Desmond on the plane; loosly jolts these memories.. kind of like 'deja-vu'. But does this explain sun not speaking english?

Steve said...

Hmmm.. perhaps if smokey leaving makes things 'no longer exist', perhaps that's the psidewats reality? and it's the other timeline that would cease?
I hope not.. it would be the equivalent of it all being a dream.
I have more faith in the writers than THAT...

Patience! It's only 6 more episodes!

Unknown said...

Have any of you ever seen Donnie Darko? This show is starting to remind me a lot of it... And if the people looking in the mirrors is really a kind of "remorseful moment" for people who were heavily involved in the story - then the show has amazing similarities to DD. The whole alternate reality and there being an "incident" that makes one reality cease to exist and another sprout up is straight out of that movie....

Unknown said...

Another blood (bleeding) moment occurred at the beginning when Sun was in the garden pulling the plants up. There was a pause to pay attention to her hand being cut. And then Locke showed up.

I'm really liking the idea of the blood/physical injury being linked to a bleeding of consciousness between existences.

Matt Bingen said...

It appears as though there may be some confusion as to weather Kate is or is not a candidate. According to Lostpedia, she was at one time but no longer is.

"Very likely Kate Austen, who met Jacob as a child when she was caught trying to shoplift a lunchbox. Jacob helped her, paying for the lunchbox, and touched her on the nose. The name "Austen" was not seen in the cave, but was later seen in the Lighthouse, not crossed out. Carlton Cuse said in an interview that Kate's name was on the cave wall and crossed out, but regrettably did not make the final edit. "

Reading this could only mean that Kate's name was on the wall/lighthouse but she is no longer a candidate. I think Smokey was telling Claire the truth when he said she was not a candidate. Her name was crossed off.

On another note, I think that the KWON that is the candidate is Jin. It almost appears that the names tied to the candidates are the last names that they have gone by for the majority of their life, even if it was not a birth name. Being Sun's last name we learned was actually Paik, I think they are starting to hint at Jin being the candidate Kwon. In the hotel in the flash sideways, they made sure to point out that Sun's name is Paik and it's Jin that is Kwon. However, I might just be looking into this too much and the writers just did this to show us they were not married. Only time will tell.

Anonymous said...

The candidate is Jin & Sun's baby. That's the big secret. It's the only baby to have ever been conceived on the island & lived. The name "Kwon" on the wall of the cave is the baby -- not the parents. Jacob didn't make a mistake. Brilliant.

Anonymous said...

steve, i think your correct.

Unknown said...

Great Blog Brian, the best there is. You always do a fine job of predicting and summarizing. I must disagree, this episode was awesome. How about the scene where FLocke confronts Charles in Charge. Charles said he’s heard of “ghost stories, bedtime tales and whispers in the jungle” something to that effect. FLocke was passing back and forth like a caged animal, knowing the pillars where restraining him in some way, really cool scene. I imagined Charles sitting around a camp fire, during his time with the others, and hearing stories from Richard (or Hawking) about MIB or Smokey.

This also leads me to believe that FLocke can’t turn into Smokey at will. Zoe has the map with circled grids showing the electromagnetic places/patches on the island. I am thinking that FLocke can only turn into Smokey at certain spots on the island. Perhaps within those electromagnetic patches are the only place(s) where FLocke can turn into Smokey. Explains the clicking sound when we hear/see Smokey coming. It’s not all supernatural, Smokey is part machine and it has something to do with the islands electromagnetic energy. Explains why FLocke just didn’t turn into Smokey to fly across the water, or to chase Sun down when she was running from him. Or when FLocke was talking to Charles, why didn’t he turn into Smokey, bump the pillar to knock down the barrier and kick some butt? Because he can’t, the hydra island does not have the electromagnetic energy properties the other island has.

A colleague at work also suggested that FLocke did something to Sun when she banged her head. Why wouldn’t he just carry her off, and take her back to his following? He may have had a hand in her not being able to speak English, in some effort to slow her down so she was unable to tell team Jacob followers of her “run in” with FLocke. I also agree with others on this post, not speaking English is a cool kick back to season one and the flash-sideways. There is something to the cut on her hand also, as others have suggested.

Just some main points, there are many more things to discuss about this episode…many….

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Maybe when Widmore says that "they will cease to exist" if MIB gets off the island, they will cease to exist is directly referencing the alternate reality (flash sideways). So not necessarily that the world is ending, but the flash sideways (which is turning out not to be so great for most thus far) is going to be the life they live with no chance of redemption.

Like we saw at the end, Sun gets shot in the stomach while pregnant so no Jeon-Li (not sure about Penny, but I'm guessing we will find out in next week's Desmond-centric episode). I'm guessing that if there is no island, that lends itself to there not being a Penny

Unknown said...

Question: if it's only possible to kill Man in Black or Jacob with a dagger BEFORE they speak, how was Ben able to kill Jacob? Didn't Jacob speak first?

Sherilyn -Dominee Huisvrouw said...

I was thinking that now that Sun doesn't speak English anymore, she can stop asking, "Where's Jin, have you seen him?"

Anonymous said...

Hedy: it's funny, but I was thinking the other way if MIB escapes -- the island timeline ceases, but the flash-sideways continues.

Let's assume that Jack/Faradays' attempt to alter the past via Jughead instead created the flash-sideways timeline. Jack *really* believed he was supposed to explode Jughead. Was this Jacob's doing? Did Jacob plan on the creation of the flash-sideways timeline, perhaps as a contingency if MIB escapes and everything (in the island timeline) ceases to exist?

If this is Jacob's plan, then he needed the US army to deliver Jughead to the island, the Dharma folks to build the stations over the pockets of electromagnetic energy, and the Flight 815 survivors to time-travel and set the whole thing off. Extremely complicated, yes, but it would help tie the previous seasons together.

Anyways, it's my best guess today.

dj (David Jones) said...

I think I'm onto something here with the Flash Sideways.

I've come to the conclusion that poor Sun is going to be the victim of Juliet's shot from the front boat. Let me explain:

We've been seeing our characters look themselves in the mirror in the flash sideways. I've been thinking "Through the Looking Glass", great stuff by Lewis Carroll. Coincidentally, a title from our very own beloved series in which we discover the underwater station was named the looking glass. For a long time, I thought that is where Through the Looking Glass ended.

But now, I realize that there are links to what happens to our characters in both realities. Sawyer runs into Kate in his flash sideways. He runs into her on the island. Ben gives up power for a greater priority to him in life in his flash sideways. He follows suit on the island. You get the idea.

Now, Sun gets shot in the flash sideways. I think you see where my logic is headed here. I think that what happens in one reality is directly reflected in the other reality. The interesting thing is that in the book, Alice can actually step through the looking glass. I wonder if our characters (or their conciousness, like Desmond's), can do the same.

In any case, I think that the flash sideways has a direct correlation with what will transpire on island. How they come crashing together, or if they do, is yet to be seen. However, I think it gave us a very strong hint as to who will get hit by Juliet's shot.

I also have a question for you Brian that you might be able to address in your analysis:

Why did SmokeLocke need to lie to Claire? He told her that her name was not on the wall. It was. It was crossed out, but it was there. And Kate's name was not on the cave. He said it 'wasn't anymore'. We never saw it on there at all.

So, he definitely was being dishonest there, one way or the other. To what end? If the claimed people are merely his zombies to do with what he will, why lie to them? Something tells me that they have some degree of choice. I guess the Littleton on the cave wall could have referred to Aaron, but he still wasn't completely upfront about Kate even if that's the case. What do you think about it?

love jenny xoxo said...

i vote for the "V" thing - super annoying... and the English thing - lame! I was a disappointed in this episode, especially after last weeks! I thought we were getting someplace! I thought for sure Sun and Jin would find each other in an episode about them... maybe they are saving it for the end or something but I don't think people care all that much about them.

Steve said...

Just a thought, I'll have to watch LAX again, but could it be that Desmond was on the plane as a direct result of HIM creating the alt timeline?

Steve said...

Smokey may BE the electromagnetic energy... or enity. He maybe able to form the 'cloud' into whatever form he likes. We know the 'island' has the ability to produce these images.. and that not all of them(kates horse) are smokey.
Should be interesting if we see Christian again...

BTW.. Jack didn't respond much when Dogen told him about his sister. Maybe he hasn't realized it's claire, but that would be a pretty big deal to me.

Unknown said...

@Steve. after jack's dad's funeral, claire's mom told him that she had a daughter on the flight that was Jack's sister and told him her name was Claire. Just wanted to clear that up for you. He definitely knows

falcon said...

Although there were lots of annoying things about this episode (V logo, aphasia, new characters that got too much screen time (Widmore's scientist/guerrilla fighter)), nonetheless I felt it advanced the story line sufficiently to justify an hour of my time. I wonder if we will get the galactic explanation for all things Lost in pieces over the last 2 or 3 episodes (including the finale) or will we get it all in one "big bang" in the last five minutes of the finale?

Smaelb said...

I think Sun's aphasia is the first time we see the Flashsideways leaking into the main timeline.. Like Jack's scar in LAX, but the other way around... What would be the point of this plot device otherwise ?

wgh said...

I'm convinced you guys are absolutely right... Sun's loss of English = major clue about timeline crossing, not some lame timewasting gimmick!

Unknown said...

@Caralyn I don't think that you literally have to kill Smokey/Jacob before they speak. I just think people are told that so that Smokey/Jacob won't have a chance to talk the person out of it. And obviously Jacob wasn't going to talk Ben out of killing him.

Steve said...

I've got a 'cheap' explanation.

Room 23.. the 'rave room' was explained away as being a dharma test for subliminal messages... hardly 70's equipment in that room... that was modern equipment.
Also, the rave had words like "jacob loves you" and 'only fools are limited by time and space'.

That's worse than the unexplained modern flat cooking top on the swan hatch.

Unknown said...

Im at the point that i mite just stop watching till 1 ep before the last one then watch all ive missed in a few days

Unknown said...

@Rusty -- if that were the case, then why didn't the Man in Black (Locke) die when Sayid stabbed him?

Vidya said...

Steve...
Room 23 was shown (I believe in season 4). Alex's boyfriend was strapped in there (same chair Jin was sitting on) and he was being forced to watch those flashing videos and lights.
I think the room was built by Dharma, but the videos etc might have been something "the others" modified and used to brain wash people into joining their clan. These people were/are almost like a cult - Jacob's cult.

Hobbes said...

Sorry Reposting:

What if the “sideways” is to also illustrate why Jacob allows, who he does, to come to the island? If I’m not completely off my rocker (which I never quite put past me and I urge you to do the same), it’s brilliant what D&C have done. Because when you remove the Island from the reality of the main story, there is no need to influence the lives of the characters in order to bring them to the Island. So with no need to poke and prod their lives, what do we see in the sideways?

Essentially (and I am hoping “most” essentially) we see them being good. There have been many comments on the “Good” motif of the sideways flashes from “Happy Ending” to “Deal with the Devil – Happy Tricky Twist.” Mostly a basic sense of how good things are without the Island.

The sense I got of Jacob is that to him “Good” is just … good. I prefer to think of “good” as the Light, in contrast to Smokey’s Darkness but for now good is just good. In the way that AJ is Evil Incarnate, Jacob is Good Incarnate and I’ll take his call that he knows what good is. So if Jacob brings you to the island it is because you are good or rather your scales tip to the good. More importantly Jacob is the one who believes. You don’t believe in Jacob, he believes in you. That’s why they are on the island because he believes you can prove AJ, Evil Almighty, wrong. Wrong by being intrinsically good. Jacob knows the Darkness will try to take its hold on you, to corrupt you. But Jacob also knows that when it comes to Good vs Evil and taking action towards either, that there is still a choice, the “variable” that is you. Then possibly that’s it, to what Jacob said “… because I shouldn’t have to tell them what to do” (referring to his talk with Alpert on the beach). In the eyes of Jacob even though you are corruptible, you have a choice since you all ready know what good is and “your past life doesn’t matter here”.

____

Brian on what AJ said to Richard you quoted:
“He had his body and humanity taken by “the devil” (Jacob).”

I’m seriously behind on reading on the responses so I don’t know if anyone else brought it up (sorry). AJ’s statement made me think that possibly for Jacob to trap Smokey on the island Jacob was required to “steal” or posses Smokey’s vessel or candidate. And part of Smokey’s loophole was to steal Jacob’s vessel; John Locke. Assuming that the candidates are vessels for the good and bad entities (Sam & Dean Winchester for Michael vs Lucifer style).

I don’t know just a thought, I could be taking that too literal. Of course Jacob could have made it just seem like Locke was his vessel/candidate (the whole miracle John can walk now routine so he’s special) in order to fool AJ.

jack said...

STeve and Vidya; If RM #23 was Darma, how was Jacob's name in it? No evidence was ever given that the "Others" modified it. I wonder if we'll get an explanation for that?

Steve said...

GO DAYTON! WAY TO BEAT THEM TARHEELS!

Kris C said...

as an ABC** resident of NC, I was so glad to see Dayton win the NIT

**Anybody But CArolina

rutgerjansma said...

I was just thinking about this: what if Sun losing her "ability" to speak English and Jin's seemingly "sudden" ability to do so will create a rift between them as expected by Sun in earlier episodes? This could be a set-up for a similar dichotomy as the one that exists between MiB and Jacob. So, Sun and Jin are still together, but on other sides of the fence so to speak? It will recall the ending of the last Pirates movie wherein Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly are still together, but that they have this continuous struggle for being together.

Diary of a Lonely Alcoholic said...

Rutger, let's hope that nothing about Lost's final season recalls anything from the final Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Sawyer5665 said...

I agree with those that made the point that SUn's losing her ability to speak English is related to the alternate timeline. I don't think Sun can speak English in the alt and that started "bleeding" over into the island timeline.

I liked this episode...of course I liked Lighthouse and I see someone here disliked it greatly. The Package was ripe with info and one of the better Jin/Sun episodes.

stormko said...

Since this season is supposed to be mirroring (hmm...) the first season, perhaps Sun losing her ability to speak English is a "mirror" of her pretending not to be able to speak English in season one. I don't mean that they are connected in the story, but maybe the writers are doing it as a sort of reprisal in the "musicality" of the storytelling.

Daisy said...

local packers and movers near me