Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Lost... and Gone Forever Bye Week Spectacular!

Everyone can relax, I’m alive and well and back to the Blog!

Allow me to explain my absence: once a year, I attempt to make the world a better place by spending four days molding the youth of America in my self image (read: teaching the importance of critical thinking and how all of life’s lessons can be learned from old episodes of “Saved by the Bell”) at the Hugh O’ Brian Youth Leader Conference (http://www.hoby.org/). I recommend you all support some type of altruistic organization, it makes you feel a lot better about all the time you waste watching and thinking about TV.

Public service announcements aside, the downside of this is that it’s four straight days of being awake and keeping no good punk kids in line for 18 hours a day, along with four straight days of getting less than 6 hours of sleep each night. Behold my dedication to Lost! I actually woke up at 5:30 am to watch “There’s No Place Like Home, Part 1” on a laptop computer Friday morning, giving up one of those precious six hours of sleep. However, I wasn’t about to give up another hour to Blog – sorry guys.

But now that I’ve returned home and recovered, I’m ready to tackle all things Lost. We’re actually in a pretty unique situation – with a “bye week” between Parts 1 and 2 and 3 of the Season Finale. Unique situations call for unique Blogs, so I present to you the first (and possibly only) “Lost and Gone Forever Bye Week Spectacular!” It’s a combination Instant Reactions, Episode Analysis, and Episode Preview, along with an official Death Watch thrown in for good measure. Basically, it’s all things Lost you need to know for the conclusion of Season Four next week.

Let’s do it.


Brian’s One Word Review of “There’s No Place Like Home, Part 1”: Setup.

I was actually pretty surprised when I returned home this week by the total lack of analysis and chatter about this episode on the various Internet sites. But when you look at this episode, it makes a lot of sense – this episode basically just put all the pieces of the puzzle in place for next week’s episodes, without leaving the viewers with any huge mysteries, dangling questions, or puzzling scenes. The episode progressed pretty logically, largely as we expected, without revealing any of the “big mysteries”.

So was the episode a disappointment? Absolutely not. Although you could tell that there was a sense of “rush” to getting all the players in place for the finale (go back and watch how quickly we jumped from scene to scene without any unnecessary dialogue or lingering shots), the slow motion ending with each of the characters heading to their fate while the emotional score blared sent chills down my spine.

This is it. We’re at the top of the hill on this rollercoaster of a season, about to tip over the apex and plunge towards what promises to be an absolutely action packed / storyline changing finale. It’s the most exciting time of the season.


Oceanic Six. This episode wasted little time in giving us the scene many have waited for since Lost began – the return of Survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 to the real world. Unfortunately, there are now much bigger questions for us to worry about – namely, how exactly did the Oceanic Six get off the Island?

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Just before the cargo plane lands, Jack runs through the “gameplan” with the other Oceanic Six, saying “we all know the story, if we get any questions we don’t want to answer or can’t answer, don’t answer – they’ll think we’re just in shock.” What struck me about this comment was the way Jack mentioned how they all “knew the story”, as if they had been told precisely what to say, and had gone over it time and time again leading up to their return to the “real world”.

This means that although the “rescue” of the Oceanic Six is right around the corner, after they leave the Island, they must spend some significant time with their rescuers to argue about and finally accept and learn this “story” that they are required to keep in order to return to the world. I have to think that most of the Oceanic Six would put up quite an argument to lying about what really happened (particularly Sun, forced to lie about the true nature of her husband’s death).

So the big question is – who gave them this story, and why do our Oceanic Six agree to go along with it?

Given the current state of storylines on the Island, the only logical person to “mastermind” this story seems to be Charles Widmore. Ben has his hands full dealing with Keamy and protecting the Island, and it’s looking like the rescue will take place from Widmore’s Freighter… and outside of those two, no other characters seem capable of weaving and orchestrating such a complex lie.

I can’t see Widmore “buying out” such characters as Hurley and Sayid, so he must somehow strong-arm the Oceanic Six into keeping to the story… or he must be holding something over their heads. But what?

Let’s keep in mind how I’ve been picturing the Oceanic Six leaving the Island – they get off the Island just Locke moves the Island, and it basically “disappears” with both the Freightors and remaining Survivors potentially in the middle of a “war” for control of the Island.

I suppose it’s logical to think that Widmore promises to not kill any of the Survivors in return for the Oceanic Six lying about the Island (all part of his master plan to keep the Island secret and eventually find it and take it over) – but if the Island really “disappears”, I wouldn’t think Widmore would have a way to contact them to give such orders… and this still wouldn’t explain why Widmore wouldn’t just kill the Oceanic Six in the first place, rather than go through all this trouble. It seems like that would keep the Island even more secret.

Enough rambling – in summary, I can’t figure out why the Oceanic Six would agree to lie about what happened after the crash because I can’t figure out why Widmore would allow them to escape the Island in the first place.

Is it possible that Widmore isn’t involved, that the Oceanic Six simply have Frank fly them to safety without any intervention from some larger sinister organization? I don’t think so, for one big reason.


Manukangga. During the Oceanic Six press conference, the following photo was displayed, claiming to show how the Oceanic Six were rescued:

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…and this photo is one big lie.

At first, you could argue that perhaps the Oceanic Six take the Zodiac Raft from the Freighter and motor off to Sumba Island where they find rescue… except the Zodiac Raft is white, not black – and Sayid and Jack are wearing different outfits than they were donning this week. I have a hard time believing either make time for a change of clothes between now and the rescue.

But this story does help shed some light about what happens to the Oceanic Six.

According to Karen Decker (Oceanic Six Rep), on Day 103 a typhoon washed a fishing boat onshore the abandoned Island the Oceanic Six had allegedly been living on since the crash (a nice real-world nod to Typhoon Nanmadol, which actually hit the Philippines in December 2004!) But it wasn’t until Day 108 that the Oceanic Six arrived in Manukangga – their first contact with the outside world after escaping the Island. Based on Lostpedia’s timeline, the on-Island events of “There’s No Place Like Home, Part 1” took place on Day 100 after the crash.

Assuming that the Oceanic Six leave the Island in the next day (which seems likely), that leaves one week of “lost time”(Mittelos!) between when the Oceanic Six escape and when they are returned to the world – and what happens during this week will explain exactly why the Oceanic Six are agreeing to lie about the truth.


Escape. But while the big question of “why” remains a mystery to me, the question of “how” is becoming more and more clear. Although I applaud the writers for splitting the Oceanic Six into three different storylines, all taking place far away from each other, which really raises the question of “how in the world are they all going to meet up and become the Oceanic Six?!?”, I think we have enough clues to piece it together.

Sun and Aaron are already in place, currently on the Freighter, which seems to be the logical meeting place for the Oceanic Six. So they simply sit tight for the next few hours. The other members have a lot more ahead of them.

Jack is on his way to the Orchid, on a mission to rescue Hurley. It’s logical to think that while Locke is busy “moving the Island” and Ben is battling the Freightors, Jack would be able to reunite with Hurley and move back towards the helicopter.

Kate and Sayid, seemingly “captured” by the Others, are probably also headed towards the Orchid. I’m guessing that Ben’s mirror flashing this week was sending signals to Alpert and the Others, calling for the cavalry to help him in defeating the Freightors (more on this later).

But in the end, it looks like Jack, Hurley, Kate, and Sayid return to the helicopter (along with Sawyer, but he “chooses to stay” – either due to space or weight restrictions – thanks Hurley), which whisks them away to the Freighter… and that’s where it gets interesting.


Jin. After Ji Yeon, there was debate about if Jin was really dead, or if it was all part of the web of lies that the Oceanic Six were keeping up… but after this week, I think it’s pretty clear. Jin is dead.

I suppose Jin backers out there (Jin-goists?) will continue to argue that it’s still possible that Jin is alive, for me – having Sun stand up to her father and say that two people are responsible for Jin’s death… and he is one of them puts the nail in Jin’s coffin. The confrontation wasn’t about keeping up face or putting on a show for snooping media – it was pure anger towards her father, who she holds partially responsible for her husband’s death.

Factor in Sun’s comment to Jack on the cargo plane of “we are in shock”, and “ it seems to me that she is a wife in mourning, being forced to lie about the truth of her husband’s death.

Since Jin is already on the Freighter, his forthcoming death has one obvious cause – the huge stockpile of explosives on the Freighter.


Freighter. After Michael fixes the engines on the Freighter, they find that they are still unable to travel to the Island to rescue the Survivors because “something is broadcasting from the boat” and jamming their signals… which appears to be the C4 planted on the ship. This would explain Keamy’s funky armband / heart monitor device from last week. He wasn’t using the device to blow up the Island in case he was killed on his mission – but rather, he’s using it to ensure that if he dies, everyone on the Freighter dies, stranding everyone on the Island.

Even though Captain Gault didn’t understand it at the time, this is why Keamy flashed the device to him and said “I wouldn’t do that if I were you” when confronted with a gun before boarding the helicopter. If Keamy were to die, the whole boat would have gone up in flames.

Of course, this brings up a huge tragic irony to the situation – if Ben (and our Survivors) are successful in defending themselves and the Island, and take out Keamy – it will result in the Freighter blowing up. Talk about a catch-22. Even worse is that those on the Freighter wouldn’t even know when it was coming, since they aren’t exactly being kept up to speed about what is going on on the Island.

Yikes.

The more I think about it, the more I think the Freighter blows up before the season ends. Why else would the initial boatload of Survivors include four background characters that are totally expendable?

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The only missing piece of the puzzle is how the Oceanic Six escape this explosion… and who else escapes with them.


Desmond. If we’re talking about people surviving the Freighter explosion, my thoughts immediately turn to the most endangered character on Lost – Desmond Hume. Ever since the feel-good ending to “The Constant”, Desmond has been at the top of the Death Watch List – even though it would probably be the most tragic and emotional death in the history of television. With the discovery of the C4 on the Freighter, it isn’t looking good for our boy Desmond.

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But the more I think about it, the more I see the storyline going in another direction – one that keeps Desmond alive and an integral part of the forthcoming seasons.

His comment last week of “I’m never set foot on that Island again” got me thinking – wouldn’t it be ironic if Desmond, who has spent three years attempting to get off the Island, is suddenly thrown in the same boat as Jack and the Oceanic Six in the flashforwardy future – that being he changes his tune and now wants to return to the Island, but can’t find it? But what could possibly make Desmond want to return to the Island?

Penelope Widmore.

Again, I’m thinking back to the ending scene between Widmore and Ben in “The Shape of Things to Come” – where Ben vows to kill Penny, and comments that “the hunt is on” for the Island. It got me thinking… if Ben wanted to kill Penny – wouldn’t he have already done it? Given his resources and previously established ability to find people, I would think that getting to Penny would be quite simple. Heck, he even was able to break into Widmore’s bedroom in the middle of the night with ease. So why hasn’t he killed Penny yet?

Simple – because she’s on the Island… that neither Widmore nor Ben can currently locate.

Whoa.

Think about that for a second – how ridiculously awesome would it be for Penny and Desmond’s places to be swapped for the final two seasons – with Penny lost and Desmond doing everything he can to find her? Since Ben and Widmore’s conversation in the flashforward future showed that Penny was still alive, I have to hold on to the hope that Desmond is also alive as well. It seems outlandish, but unless the writers plan on wrapping up the Penny / Desmond storyline or being heartless bastards and killing one (or both) of them, rule number #1 of the Ross-Rachel principle of television romances dictates that you have to keep the characters apart until the very end.

I’ve got a hunch that Penny is currently on her way to rendezvous with Desmond on the Freighter… but on her way pass a little too close to the Island’s funky electromagnetic bubble, causing her to get spun around and end up on the Island. At least that’s my hope – because it would ensure Desmond’s safety for the foreseeable future. More on this in the “There’s No Place Like Home, Parts 2 and 3” episode preview!

But first, let’s wrap up Part 1…


Time. There are a couple of weird timing issues that came up with this episode. First, we confirmed that Sayid was able to travel to the Island (and Faraday was able to travel back to the Freighter) in “real time” – with nothing funky happening because they followed the proper bearing. But since this is possible, it makes you wonder, what would happen if Faraday left the Island after Doc Ray washed up on shore dead, followed the right bearing, and got back to the Freighter when Doc Ray was still alive? What if Faraday had picked up Doc Ray’s body and taken it back to the ship to show it to the still alive Doc Ray? Would that even be possible? Would that cause some tear in the space-time continuum and bring about the end of the world? Blasted Doc Ray continues to confuse me…

Back in the real world, at the beginning of the eulogy for Christian Shephard, Jack mentions he wrote it 10 months ago in Sydney airport. This puts the funeral taking place in roughly late July 2005 (since Oceanic Flight 815 took off on September 22, 2004). But if the Oceanic Six were discovered 108 days after the crash – this means that nearly six months have passed between Jack arriving back in the real world and holding the funeral. I guess it’s possible – but just seems weird to me.


Orchid. Lastly, we come to the Orchid. Before we get analyzing, it’s worth noting that we actually already analyzed this – last summer, right after Comic-Con. Here’s what I originally said:



Narrated by Edgar Halowax (i.e. Marvin Candle / Mark Wickmund), we learn that “The Orchid” station is used for animal testing. However, due to the highly volatile, potentially dangerous nature of the tests, those who work there lie to their family and colleagues, who think the tests surround botany. There are some weird scenes with everyone freaking out over a numbered rabbit (just like Ben’s), and then the video cuts out.

Why do I think it’s just for fun? Well, we’ve seen no mention of the Orchid before, and it wasn’t on the Blast Door Map. There’s also an air of humor throughout the video, like it’s an outtake from a real Orientation Video. But the one interesting thing mentioned is a “Casimir Effect”. I had no idea what this was, but after doing some research, found something quite interesting:

In physics, the Casimir effect or Casimir-Polder force is a physical force exerted between separate objects, which is due to neither charge, gravity, nor the exchange of particles, but instead is due to resonance of all-pervasive energy fields in the intervening space between the objects. This is sometimes described in terms of virtual particles interacting with the objects, due to the mathematical form of one possible way of calculating the strength of the effect. Since the strength of the force falls off rapidly with distance it is only measurable when the distance between the objects is extremely small. On a submicron scale, this force becomes so strong that it becomes the dominant force between uncharged conductors. Indeed at separations of 10 nm — about a hundred times the typical size of an atom — the Casimir effect produces the equivalent of 1 atmosphere of pressure (101.3 kPa). The van der Waals force between a pair of neutral atoms is a similar effect. In modern theoretical physics, the Casimir effect plays an important role in the chiral bag model of the nucleon; and in applied physics, it is becoming increasingly important in the development of the ever-smaller, miniaturised components of emerging micro- and nano-technologies.

A similar analysis can be used to explain Hawking radiation that causes the slow "evaporation" of black holes (although this is generally visualized as the escape of one particle from a virtual particle-antiparticle pair, the other particle having been captured by the black hole).


What does all that medical mumbo-jumbo mean? Well, it just might be an explanation for what Smokey is (explained by pseudo-science!) – which might mean that this Orchid station is responsible for Smokey’s creation (an experiment gone terribly, terribly wrong – just like we all hoped!), and it would help explain why at least some of the Others (Juliet) don’t really know what Smokey is – since the experiments from the Orchid were kept secret.

In the end, I come down on the side of parody for the video. But with Lost, even parodies can contain little hints of things to come.



So for all those who think I secretly work for Lost / have spoilers / am omniscient, this should be all the proof you need that I am often totally wrong.

Since this video first surfaced, we’ve seen Ben suddenly appear in the middle of the desert wearing a parka with the name “Hallowax” on it, we’ve got all sorts of characters arriving at the Orchid, and it seems to be the key to “moving the Island”. In this new light, two different portions of the video immediately catch my attention:

1. The appearance of a duplicate #15 rabbit in the Orchid, which was likely sent through space and time on an experiment – just like the polar bear and Ben in Tunisia! But note how Hallowax freaks out that both of the #15 rabbits are in the same room. Maybe I wasn’t so far off in thinking that dead Doc Ray interacting with alive Doc Ray would cause serious problems.

2. The conversation between Hallowax and his assistant.

- When did you set the shift?
- Negative twenty.
- How long?
- Nine minutes.

I have no idea what that means, but hearing “shift” of various degrees makes me think that “moving the Island” could either mean shifting it to somewhere else in time and space or shifting the electromagnetic “window” that allows one to access the Island off bearing 305.

The other interesting point about the Orchid I didn’t think about until Hurley brought it up? If they move the Island, it moves Keamy and the Freightors along with the Island – meaning it doesn’t solve the problem of the current invaders as much as preventing anyone else from joining them. Ben also notes that moving the Island is “dangerous and unpredictable”, which hints that the Others haven’t quite yet mastered time and space. This would explain Ben needing to verify the year when he warps to Tunisia, and why the Others hadn’t used this ability for a thousand other purposes over the past few seasons.

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Ben. Finally, a quick note about Ben. Even though we know that he is alive and well in the future based on flashforwards, my heart still stopped when Keamy pointed the gun to his head. All the prior scenes were all setup for a Ben death – from his dialogue with Locke about always having a plan to the slow motion walk montage with powerful music – that is how you kill a character on a TV show!

…which is why I think next episode will reveal that Ben indeed is the person in the coffin in the far future. A few things need to happen between now and then (like Ben getting his fancy ass-kicking stick back from Locke – since he had it in 2005 Tunisia), and although we’ll still probably see plenty of Benjamin Linus over the next few seasons, I think the stage is set for his character’s eventual death in the era of the “Through the Looking Glass” flashforwards.

On to this week!


Episode Title: “There’s No Place Like Home, Parts 2 and 3”


Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: Remember last week when I said I should have saved some of my episode title analysis for this week? Well, I didn’t – so I’ve got nothing new now. As before, I think the irony is going to be the Survivors starting to consider the Island to be “home” by the end of the season rather than the “real world” they have been trying to return to for the past four seasons.


Episode Description: The face-off between the survivors and the freighter people continues, and the Oceanic Six find themselves closer to rescue. Guest starring are Jeremy Davies as Daniel Faraday, Ken Leung as Miles Straume, Rebecca Mader as Charlotte Lewis, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, L. Scott Caldwell as Rose, Malcolm David Kelley as Walt, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, John Terry as Christian Shephard, Sonya Walger as Penelope "Penny" Widmore, Alan Dale as Charles Widmore, Kevin Durand as Keamy, Francois Chau as Dr. Marvin Candle, Anthony Azizi as Omar, Alex Petrovitch as Henrik and Starletta DuPois as Michael's mom.


Episode Breakdown: Much like the deeper meaning, the episode description is nearly identical to last week’s! Apparently the Oceanic Six are going to be rescued and there will be some type of face-off between our Survivors, the Others, and the Freightors. How shocking!

Thankfully, once again the guest stars offer a wealth of information for analyzing. Aside from the normal cast of Freightors, there are four major characters guest starring this week that should pique your interest...


Christian. Okay, so since we’ve seen Christian in two of the past three weeks of Lost, his inclusion isn’t that surprising – until you start to think about how he could fit into the on-Island events. Keep in mind that the last two places we’ve seen him were appearing to Jack in the future (as a ghost / Island Spirit), and appearing to Locke as the BFF of Jacob, alongside maybe-dead Claire inside Jacob’s Cabin.

At this point, a return visit to the Cabin seems unlikely, but that’s not to say that Christian will appear to Locke to “guide him” in his mission to move the Island inside the Orchid. On the other hand, I think it’s more likely that Christian’s appearance takes place in a Jack flashforward. Going off the assumption that we are going to learn who is in last season’s coffin before the season ends (which we were promised by Damon and Carlton, I believe), the flashforwards must move well past what happened immediately after the Oceanic Six returned to the real world. If we flash forward all the way up to when Jack visited the funeral parlor, at that point, he’s in full-fledged crazy mode – and likely totally haunted by the images of his dead father, just like Hurley was haunted by dead Charlie.

This brings up two interesting possibilities:

1. We could see a scene of Jack talking with Ghost Christian in the hospital that takes place immediately before last season’s scene where Jack asks the Chief of Surgery to “get my father down here”, which would neatly tie up the explanation of why Jack would make such a comment.

2. If we are going to flashforward all the way up to the events from “Through the Looking Glass”, could it be that we “catch up” to the storyline introduced to us in the flashforwards, leaving the remaining seasons to move forward in time on the quest to find the Island? If you remember, I toyed with this notion at the end of last season – where the Island action from this point forward would take place in the form of flashbacks, with the off-Island action becoming what the audience views as “present day”. It would serve as another pretty dramatic shift in the show’s storytelling style, but I think it would work beautifully.


Walt. As for Walt, my initial thought was that his appearance would be quite similar to his single scene in last season’s finale – serving as an image of the “Island Spirit”, working to once again guide Locke on his mission inside the Orchid. The problem is that Malcolm David Kelley is yet another year older, and would probably be nearly unrecognizable as Walt were he to appear on the Island. On the other hand, this real-life aging would serve the writers perfectly if they were writing a flashforward scene that takes place a few years after the Oceanic Six returned to the world… which is precisely what I think they’ll do.

Another guest star listed for the episode is Michael’s Mom, which makes sense given that Walt was living with her when we last saw him. Does their inclusion mean that Michael also makes it off the Island, and we’re going to be treated to a heartfelt reunion of the happy family?

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No way. In fact, I think it’s the complete opposite. I’m guessing that Michael dies on the Freighter… a heroic death that somehow saves some of the Oceanic Six. His dying words are to have the Survivors tell Walt that he died redeeming himself for his past sins, saving his memory in his son’s eyes. A visit from Sun / Hurley / Jack to pass on the story seems likely to me – and an awesome way to bring some closure to the Michael / Walt storyline, while opening the door for Walt to be involved in the mission to return to the Island.


Widmores. Last, but certainly not least, we have the return of the potentially most important non-regular characters on all of Lost – Penelope and Charles Widmore. As I’ve mentioned earlier, I think both these characters will play major roles in the finale. On the one hand, we’ve got Charles Widmore, who assembled the Freightors and sent them on their mission in the first place – and also the most likely creator of the massive lies about the Oceanic Six. On the other hand, we’ve got Penny Widmore, who has been relentlessly searching for Desmond for the past two seasons – and seems to finally have a track on him after “The Constant” earlier this season. Both are searching for the Island and its Survivors – but for two very different reasons.

Again, I’m hopeful that this season will end with Penny accidentally ending up on the Island during her search for Desmond – which would easily explain her appearance this episode. On the other hand, I find it hard to believe that Charles would actually dirty his hands by physically showing up on the Freighter. Instead, I think after the Freighter explodes, he has to come in and “clean up” the mess that the Oceanic Six present. Although we don’t know for sure that Widmore was behind the fake Oceanic 815 wreckage, you have to think that six people who were allegedly dead suddenly showing up and talking about some magical Island would be quite problematic for his goal of keeping the Island and its powers secret.

I’m guessing he swoops in after the fact, picks up the Oceanic Six, and puts a plan in motion that involves a fake Island, a fishing boat, and some carefully constructed photos to corroborate the story. This would set the stage for some heavy Widmore involvement in Seasons Five (and Six?) which I think we would all welcome with open arms.


Death Watch. Okay, before we go, it’s time for our annual “Pre-Season Finale Death Watch”. I’ve referenced most of these in the above five thousand words, but here it is in a nice and neat list!

Goners:

Jin – Sun has twice referenced his tragic death, and he totally set himself up to die by forgiving Sun for cheating on him and fulfilling his promise to get her off the Island. Guys – the moral of the story is, never forgive your wife or fulfill any promises you make them!

Michael – his story of redemption ends on the Freighter, where he gets the chance to give his own life to save the lives of some of his fellow Survivors. He’s already made it back to the real world once… he won’t make it back twice.

Marked for Death:

Ben – although his time traveling escapades could easily spinoff into a whole other series involving he and Sayid fighting crime, having him around makes it too easy for the Oceanic Six to make it back to the Island and learn all the secrets. Instead, look for him to be the person inside the coffin, who dies after leaving only mysterious hints to the Oceanic Six about the secrets of the Island.

Keamy – as much as I love his badass character, and would be intrigued by the prospect of Keamy and the Commandos waging total war on the Island while the Oceanic Six attempt to return to it, I don’t see the Freighter exploding without Keamy dying… and I definitely see the Freighter exploding.

Surprise Death That Would Lead to Riots on the Internet and Death Threats to Damon / Carlton:

Desmond – he’s not a member of the Oceanic Six, but that’s only because he was never on Oceanic 815. He promised to never go back to the Island, and is currently on a boat chock full of explosives. It’s a dangerous situation, but I refuse to believe the Desmond-Penny love story will end before the final season of Lost... at which time it will end happily and prove to us all that true love is possible.

Other than that, I think the rest of the major characters are quite safe. Keep in mind that we need to have a fair number of Survivors left on the Island to provide some additional motive for the Oceanic Six to return to “rescue” them. We have yet to get the backstories on Faraday, Frank, Charlotte, or Miles – so they seem safe. We’ve had Kate make reference to Sawyer choosing to stay on the Island in a very alive sense. Locke is destined to be the new leader of the Others, and Juliet is set to serve as the new “leader” of the remaining Survivors since she has the most knowledge about the Island of any of them. There really aren’t many major characters left – and aren’t the four deaths above quite enough for one episode? I think so.


So there you have it, everything inside my brain about Lost to prep you for the Season Finale. Needless to say, I think the episode will be fairly mind-blowing, but not quite in the game-changing way that last season ended. Our hearts can only take such a twist once every so many years!

Now everyone avoid the Internet for the next week to avoid any potential spoilers from the soulless creatures that lurk in the dark corners of the Internet!

Remember, this is the schedule for Thursday, May 29th:

8:00 – “There’s No Place Like Home, Part 1” (featuring new scenes!)
9:00 – “There’s No Place Like Home, Part 2”
10:00 – “There’s No Place Like Home, Part 3”
11:00 – Freakout on the Blog
12:00 – Slide into depression upon realizing the next episode of Lost is seven months away

Happy Losting!

http://facethewoods.com/lost/index.php?topic=317.0

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

good to see you back Brian !!

Eric said...

Excellent post, my friend! One thing I was surprised did not merit a mention was the inclusion of Henrik among the guest stars. He was one of the two Portuguese speakers in the station at the end of Season 2. I think that actually lends credence to your theory of Penny showing up on the island. It should be interesting to see how he fits in to things ... I've been waiting years for some explanation of the Brazilian dudes!

Anonymous said...

welcome back, brian & great job, once again!

i too, desperately hope they wouldn't be stupid enough to kill off desmond. after spending the first two seasons pining over sayid, i've realized that desmond has become the most important character and easily my favorite. go des & penny!!

i think there's another love story brewing between charlotte & daniel now too.

Anonymous said...

Have we discussed in the past why Michael wouldn't be the one in the coffin? He makes sense for no one showing up including his mother and Walt.

Also, what if Kate's phone call she lied to Jack about in the flashforward was a part of Sawyer bailing from the Oceanic 6 to save an overload of weight on whatever conveyance is used to escape and ends up travelling back through the bubble at the wrong coordinates requiring Kate to be his Constant? Just wanted to throw that out.

Anonymous said...

Thanks B (your absence was a practice for the long months ahead, oh dear)

JIN: Whether he’s dead or not – I firmly am convinced that Sun BELIEVES he is dead – that was real grief you saw at the grave (not just missing you but determined to get back to you sort of thing……).

D&P: Gosh these two have suffered enough haven't they - a tragic end would be too much. Love to think your theory is correct OR they end up together on the island (no doubt in adverse conditions) though but at least they're together OR knowing Lost - where you get what you want but it's with a twist. (Who can forget - we have to go back!!!!!!!!!)

THE DREADED COFFIN: Could it be that it's not Ben therefore it's Michael or Locke (given Kate's indifferent reaction) therefore others apart from O6 get off the island!

PS Promise to finally get my AintoG over the break and get an identity so I'm no longer an anon.

Anonymous said...

Part 1 I thought had one very very important aspect - Jack finding out Claire was his sister. This obviously is what sets him off, Hurley has already started, Kate will be next.
And this is what is really important -
AARON is the Catalyst for the O6 to go back. That's why Claire let him go.

One other bit from part 1 was Sun using 5 bank accounts to buy up Paik Industires - wouldn't it be cool if the O6 are in it together (but probably just a tease).

Anonymous said...

Yeah, what about Claire? Brian must have forgot to identity his take (death watch) looking ahead.

And, Sun's story line -- I like the idea that the other O6 people contributed to buy out her father. Seems like a stretch though.

Euclides Montes said...

'12:00 – Slide into depression upon realizing the next episode of Lost is seven months away'

I was about to give up smoking but Brian, you've just put things into perspective for me!

Welcome back. I can't wait for Thursday!!!

Euclides
http://www.prometheus-hepatitides.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Charlie told Hurley to tell Jack that "you were not suppose to raise him" referring to Aron. If not Jack, who? All indications point to Sawyer being the guy who was supposed to raise him. Sawyer saved Claire, loves Kate and was shown on-screen in many scenes carrying and carring for him. C&L have given good indication that Aron's character will play a very important role in LOST mythology. That said, I would bet Aron is some sort of prophet (given LOST's past penchant for deeper meaning of children as they relate to the Island)and Jack comes to understand, perhaps thru his father, that Hurley's message was right and that Jack was infact NOT meant to raise him. This, perhaps is one of the reasons Jack "has to get back". In the meantime, i wonder if it will be revealed next week what happened to Claire.

Anonymous said...

All signs seem to point to Jin's death. My only problem with this is what is Sun's motivation for going back to the island?

Steve said...

I still disagree with Jin. I don't believe that we'll find out whether he's alive or not until next season, but that Sun 100% thinks that he's dead. He's the same rule as Des and the redshirts on the Freighter. Sun believes he's dead. If it explodes, do we really know for certain that everyone is dead?

I like the Penny idea... Widemore sure wouldn't rescue Des, but see jin in that he may not be dead.

Eric, good point on the Portuguese guy...

I'm lost as to who's in the Coffin, ben is as good of a guess as any and would work well with your theory.

Would Ben being in the coffin being a real game changer? Or could that be where the 'island' moves to.

Anonymous said...

Oooh I really love the Penny on the island idea.

TheycallmeVic said...

Best. Lost. Blog. Ever.
Great job Brian, this is why we love your work.

Kait said...

1) I'm pretty sure I went to HOBY when I was younger. No offense, but I don't remember it at all. I just remember there being a big deal about the kids who were chosen to attend HOBY, and I was usually one of those kids.

2) According to something I read, the new scenes will involve extended questioning of the Oceanic 6, including who the other two people who initially survived the crash were (even though I think I also read that that turns out to be insignificant).

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be THREE people survived the crash? They said 8 people survived, but aaron wasnt born yet, so there would only be the 5 of them + 3 others.

I think Jin is alive but she doesn't know.

I also don't think anyone SAVES them, I think they get to the freighter and it blows up after/while they get on another raft.

I def. think that aaron is the key and that everyone will be haunted at one point or another by someone. Michael/Libby, Hurley/Charlie, Jack/Christian and next season we'll see why Kate and Sun and Sayid eventually decide they have to go BAAAAACK!

Anonymous said...

Did anyone else think it was weird that no one questioned that Kate told the press Aarom was a little over 5 weeks when obviously that baby is way older?

Liz

Anonymous said...

Just a thought, but who says there actually has to be someone in the coffin? I mean I know the producers set it up for us to think it was really significant and important about who is in the coffin, but they have deceived us before. perhaps the funeral was a set up by Ben, who wanted the world to only think he was dead. This would get Widmore off his trail and give him the chance to search for the moved island without any disturbances.

Eric said...

Oooh, interesting thought, Mr. Anonymous 6:01 pm! That would also make it so cool that the funeral director asked if Jack wanted him to open the coffin ... what would have happened if Jack had said yes?!?!?!

Anonymous said...

not a chance that noone is in the coffin. the writting is very precise....the funeral director asked Jack if he wanted to look in. Clearly, if Jack would simply had said "yes", he'd discover it to be empty. Also, C&L have both made it clear, in more than one podcast, etc that "someone" is in the coffin. Nah....not a good theory that the coffin is empty Annon.

Anonymous said...

I cant wait to see how this all folds out!

There is loads to time to wrap most things up on the island in 2 episodes.

I think its likely that Michael will die a hero and Jin dies saving Sun...

It'll be interesting how the writers get the 3 sets of the split oceanic 6 together on, what I presume is the helicopter, to safety...

BUT, the big question is... how is locke going to "move" the island!?!?!

Waiting in anticiaption...

Anonymous said...

any thoughts if Ben is just time traveling or time & space traveling? unlike Desmond's time traveling, where his physical body remains in the "present", Ben appears to be physically transporting his body to another time. have c&l addressed this?

Anonymous said...

yes but what if the funeral director knew Jack (like how Ben knows everything about everyone)and knew that he wouldn't want to look in the coffin

Liza Wimberley said...

If Ben is in the coffin, I wonder why the funeral is taking place at an obviously African-American neighborhood and funeral parlor. That's one thing that to me doesn't add up. I was thinking that it might be Miles in the coffin. Last we saw him on mainland he was performing an exorcism at a house of an African American family - could there be a connection?

Anonymous said...

I just rewatched Greatest hits last night, and Desmond specifically said that he saw Claire and Aaron getting into the helicopter leaving the island. How has that not gotting any attention this season? Brain any thoughts on that?

Anonymous said...

when they discuss moving the island maybe they mean that they are going to move it to a different place in time. I mean it is obvious that the orchid deals with time travel (hence the two #15 bunnies)... but that still does not solve the problem that everything on the island will move to a different place in time still putting the island in danger. idk im confused

Kevin and Rachel Weyand said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kevin and Rachel Weyand said...

I love your Blog!
You are awesome Brian!

Steve said...

If Locke is Ben's replacement, I believe that Aaron is next in this line. That's why the island has the interest in him.... he's 'special'.

hayley said...

I know that we are all psyched about the season finale of lost...but is anyone going to start watching FRINGE????

hayley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

14 hours left !!! YOUHOUUUUUUU

Anonymous said...

i c a n ' t w a i t !

Anonymous said...

SO excited for tonight!

Just wanted to let you all know that if you have a Verizon phone, there's a GREAT preview clip from tonight's episode you can see. Check it out. It's not too spoiler-ish, and it's very intriguing!

Anonymous said...

you think Abadon could be Walt in some flash forward?

Anonymous said...

C & L indicated in their ABC Podcast that on the 8pm airing later, this version will include three more questions that the press ask the Oceanic 6 at the press mtg.

Rebecca said...

One more hour!!! CST has it's upside!

Anonymous said...

"Michael – his story of redemption ends on the Freighter, where he gets the chance to give his own life to save the lives of some of his fellow Survivors. He’s already made it back to the real world once… he won’t make it back twice."


What about other characters like Kate, Sawyer, Jack, Juliet, Sun, and Sayid, who require redemption? Will their stories end in death like Michael and Locke's? Or will Lindehof and Cuse make up some excuse to justify them avoiding a similar fate?