Season Finale Time!

It's the most bittersweet time of the TV Year - season finale time.

In a way, it's very exciting. Networks pull out all the stops, give us things we've been hoping for all year, weddings, births, deaths, and cliffhangers that keep us on the edge of our seats.

In another way, it's sad. It's saying goodbye to our favorite shows for three or four long months (even longer for shows like 24) - or perhaps even forever (Alias).

At any rate, it's worth talking about. Although it will infuriate out those "I only watch and talk about Lost" readers out there (again, this is the "… and Gone Forever" portion of the Blog!), here is a breakdown of the 10 Season Finales I'll Be Watching, along with my predictions of each (ranked from least anticipated to most anticipated):

10. My Name is Earl: Thursday, May 11th.

TV.com Says: On the suggestion of Darnell, Earl decides to cross off number one from his list, "stole $10 from a guy at the Camden Market." But Earl soon discovers he owes the guy more than $10, and in fact he owes him all of his lotto winnings. Now penniless and desperately trying to continue with his list, Earl wonders when his karma is going kick in and turn his misfortunes around for the better.

Brian Says: I find it very hard to believe that the show would pretty much ditch its entire premise in its first season finale. While it would be intriguing to see how Earl would be able to continue with his list without the benefit of his lottery winnings (and give the viewer the positive message of “You don’t have to be rich to right your wrongs – everyone can do it!”), I’d anticipate by the end of the episode, karma steps up and somehow gets Earl has all the money he needs to continue on with his list.

9. Survivor: Sunday, May 14th

TV.com Says: Another thrilling season of Survivor draws to a close tonight with a spectacular three-hour finale. First, see the final episode, in which the remaining contestants visit Tribal Council for the very last time. Then, the winner of season 12 will be announced in a live-reveal broadcast from the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City. Finally, Jeff Probst will host a live reunion show in which the 16 castaways will meet for the first time since their Panama experience.

Brian Says: What the hell am I doing watching Survivor? Blame my roommate Currin. I was a die-hard fan back in the day (as evidenced by the framed and autographed picture of Elisabeth Filarski - now Hasselback - hanging in the Delta House (I swear that sounds much creepier than it really is)), but by the third season it was getting fairly predictable and I was getting bored by the whole "reality show" mania that was sweeping TV. (That, and it aired on Thursday nights, which was a prime drinking (Mom, read: “studying”) night in college.)

However, now that I've seen a good chunk of this season, I'm drawn in… mainly because of this guy, who is probably the most dominant Survivor player ever:



His head has been on the chopping block for the past six weeks, yet he just keeps winning the challenges and dominating everyone else on the Island.

Every Survivor I can remember seems to end with the person I'm rooting for losing. Here's hoping this will be the first to end that streak.

8. Amazing Race: Wednesday, May 17th

TV.com Says: And then there were three. The final three teams race to the finish line during a special two-hour finale.

Brian Says: Yeah, at this point I look like a mindless reality TV junkie - but I promise this is the last one on the list. (Although I do like me some Laguna Beach – but it’s not on right now). As I said before, I can't believe I'm watching Survivor - but I'll gladly fess up to liking the Amazing Race. You get to see exotic places and activities from around the world and watch the interactions of people with already established relationships (as opposed to the complete strangers thrown together motif of 99% of reality shows).

As with most reality shows, the real key is having interesting characters. I’m watching because of these crazy hippies:



They perform pretty well even though, in true hippie fashion, they seem laid back and more interested in being friendly to everyone than scheming to win the thing. But they are mighty entertaining to watch.

Since it truly ends up being a "race" at the end of many episodes, there really is the sensation of excitement and nervousness at the end of each week. The finale should be more of the same.


7. The Office: Thursday, May 11th

TV.com Says: In the season finale, Michael and the Dunder Mifflin crew hold a Casino Night for charity in their warehouse and take some big gambles.

Brian Says: We've been teased with the Jim and Pam relationship for the past two seasons, and it looks like it will finally come to a head in this finale. I mean, it has to, right? Pam’s scheduled to get married over the summer, Jim’s toying with the notion of moving offices (neither one is going to happen, if you ask me). I’m guessing the “big gambles” referenced aren’t referring to the poker table – but to relationships, as in Jim finally telling Pam how he feels and seeing what happens.


6. Scrubs: Tuesday, May 16th

TV.com Says: J.D. challenges a urologist's assessment on a consult for a patient who might need a risky surgical procedure, feeling that she's playing it safe professionally and personally, since he also starts to fall for her. Along the same lines, Elliot considers breaking up with her boyfriend/intern Keith for being too weak, especially when he's being picked on by Dr. Cox. Smitten, J.D. tries to plan a perfect date with Dr. Kim Briggs on their night off, but Elliot gets in the way. Meanwhile, Dr. Cox and Jordan celebrate a milestone in their young son's life. Later, baby fever sweeps the hospital as the staff tries to pick a name for Turk and Carla's expected baby, but no one could guess who at Sacred Heart has to sweat out a pregnancy next.

Brian Says: I've professed my love for Scrubs before - but I'll do it again. Hilarious. Quirky. Touching. Tearjerking. Throw out any adjective, and it seemingly can be used to describe this show (except for maybe "gelatinous"… no wait, there was that Jell-O Cup episode…). I have probably learned more life lessons from Scrubs than I did from all my teachers in life combined. If you don’t watch this show, I can’t be friends with you – it’s as simple as that.

After the past few weeks (featuring the single saddest TV show I’ve ever seen), it seems like things are finally back to normal with Dr. Cox back to his jerk-face self, and Scrubs heading down the traditional season finale route of “somebody’s pregnant”. I guess the only logical guess for this is Elliot, right? Breaking up with Keith only to find out she’s pregnant might be interesting – but so would a second baby for Dr. Cox and Jordan.

Scrubs hasn’t “officially” been renewed for next year at time of writing, but rumors are it will be back for one more year!



5. Grey's Anatomy: Monday, May 15th

TV.com Says: Izzie and George attend to Denny as the pressure increases to find him a new heart, Cristina suddenly finds herself in charge of an ER room, and Derek grapples with the realization that the life of a friend is in his hands. Richard goes into interrogation mode about a patient's condition, Callie confronts George about his feelings for her, and Meredith and Derek make a decision about Doc.

Brian Says: This show has skyrocketed since its post-Super Bowl timeslot. Remember when Desperate Housewives was ABC’s “big hit” on Sunday nights? Well, Grey’s has gotten significantly higher ratings than Housewives ever since the Super Bowl – so much, in fact, that it’s getting an unprecedented two night, THREE HOUR finale. Look for it to move to Mondays (if ABC is smart) or Thursdays (if ABC is stupid) next season to help launch other new shows.

Here’s hoping the finale finally resolves the Denny storyline (either kill him or save him, I can’t stand seeing him each week living in limbo!). Callie confronting George about his feelings for her should finally let us know if George is really over Meredith, or if he’s just lying to himself about it after the most-awkward sex scene in TV history with her. Undoubtedly, the show will bring much excitement, lives hanging in the balance, people hooking up, and co-workers telling me I remind them of George (again) the next day.


4. 24: Monday, May 22nd

TV.com Says: As the clock approaches the final hours of an extremely long and terrifying day underscored by a presidential assassination and the threat of nerve gas, Jack seeks to avenge the painful loss of innocent lives, as well as those of CTU beloveds Edgar Stiles, Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler and Lynn McGill. Meanwhile, shocking developments are uncovered, and the investigation takes an unexpected turn.

Brian Says: If you've never seen 24, and plan on watching some of the previous seasons, you might want to skip ahead here, since I'll reference past season finales of 24…)

You’ve been warned.

Let's see if I remember correctly. So far, in 24 season finales we've had the following:

Season One – Jack’s pregnant wife killed by a co-worker and former flame
Season Two – The President is poisoned
Season Three – Jack cuts off the arm of his partner, breaks down at the end
Season Four – Jack kills himself (temporarily)

If anybody knows how to do a season finale, it’s the good people at 24. So what’s it doing way down here at #4? Well, partly because of this, I’m expecting these insane-type things to occur. I know exactly what I’m going to get. The cheesy commercials are right – watching this show is a freakin’ adrenaline rush.

This season has probably been the strongest overall of any season thus far. I really have no idea how they’re going to resolve the plotlines short of Jack (or someone else) killing the President of the United States. On any other show, that would be an insane proposition. On 24, I’m expecting it.

I would also be on the lookout for Audrey to die, since she’s been cast in a new ABC show next fall. I’m hoping that Secretary of Defense Heller ends up surviving his accident, setting him up for being the President of the United States next season.

We’re also due, as the preview suggests, for Jack to go ballistic on some people to avenge the deaths of all of his friends earlier this season – on the mysterious corporate looking people who seem to be behind this all, perhaps? I would also love to see a setup for next season bringing back the “Country of China vs. Jack Bauer” storyline, or have Jack go to Germany to help Desmond from Lost in his investigation.



3. Prison Break: Monday, May 15th

TV.com Says: With the escape plan in progress, Michael, Lincoln and their fellow inmates must run for their lives to avoid capture, as they attempt to gain their freedom with Bellick hot on their trail. Meanwhile, Veronica races to Montana to find a very much alive Terrance Steadman, and the Vice President finds herself no longer part of The Company's plans.

Brian Says: The series title says it all. This is the moment we've been waiting for all season – actually breaking out of prison. Whereas 24 is pure excitement, Prison Break is pure nervousness – this show has kept me on the edge of my seat and made my heart beat like no other show on TV.

Having said that, I’m a bit disappointed that after the show started with an intricate, clever, sneaky plan of how to break out of prison, the last episode ended with Michael pretty much pulling a shank on the Warden to get out. Couldn’t he have done that about twenty episodes ago just as well as he could now? I think the show is a victim of foiling its own plots so many times, that in the end this was the only option left.

It’s pretty clear that not everyone is going to make it out on the break. Here are my guesses on who makes it out:

Michael – part of me thinks it would be a great idea to have everyone make it out except Michael, and then Lincoln would have to figure out a way to break him out (from the outside). But odds are, Micahel’s making it out alive and the story will shift to uncovering the conspiracy behind Lincoln being set up next season.

Lincoln – I read that Lincoln takes center stage on the show next season, so he’s pretty much the only one guaranteed to make it out.

C-Note – not looking good. His whole goal in escaping is just to see his wife, but that’s the very thing he can’t do, because it’s the first place the Feds would look. He’s an interesting character (the only one who was a “good guy” before Prison) and truly a victim of the system – which will make his death all the more tragic.

Westmoreland – no chance. He’s already injured (and probably slowly dying). But I would put money down that he’s actually DB Cooper, and gives Michael a treasure map or something before dying that leads to his fortunes. Hello, finances for next season.

Tweener – initially, I would have said “no way”, but I’m surprised on how much they’ve brought this character back into the fold recently, thinking they’re setting him up for storylines next year. If it were up to me, I’d kill him – but I have a creeping suspicion he’s sneaking through.

Sucre – absolutely. He provides a lot of the show’s humor, has a built a relationship and repertoire with Michael, and needs to exact some revenge on Hector for horning in on his woman.

Abruzzi – since he was already killed off the show once and then brought back, I don’t know how to take it. Does that mean that the writers have plans for him? Was he needed to help tie up the Fibonacci storyline? Or is it he back to do something as simple as take out T-bag? My vote: keep him alive, giving us a fantastic storyline for next season when Michael has to either give up the location of Fibonacci or take on the Italian Mob.

T-Bag – I think either T-Bag or Abruzzi makes it, not both. These guys hate each other. T-Bag makes the more logical choice to kill since he’s a fundamentally bad dude, and I don’t know how the show could have him on the outside molesting little kids and getting his revenge on his former girlfriend. Plus, he’s got the most inappropriate character name for a TV show since “Boner” on Growing Pains.




2. Lost: Wednesday, May 24th

TV.com Says: After discovering something odd just offshore, Jack and Sayid come up with a plan to confront “The Others” and hopefully get Walt back. Meanwhile, Eko and Locke come to blows as Locke makes a potentially cataclysmic decision regarding the “button” and the hatch, on the season finale of Lost.

Brian Says: Something tells me I'll be writing a whole lot about this show's season finale in the very near future, so I won't say much for now - only this: I think the show learned its lesson after the season one finale, where they opted to reveal less than they could have about the Island mysteries and everyone was furious. I’ve heard good things about the finale from those who have seen it, and fully expect the Lost world, and how we view it, to be turned upside down.

This is a Lost site! What’s Lost doing at number two? Well…


1. Alias: Monday, May 22nd

TV.com Says: Sloane takes Marshall and Rachel hostage in order to discover a crucial clue to Rambaldi’s ultimate endgame, as Sydney, Vaughn and APO race to stop him. Sydney and Jack must find a way to keep Sloane and Irina from putting their deadly plan into action.

Brian Says: Alias takes the top prize for the simple fact that it’s not a “Season Finale” but a “SERIES Finale”. I’ve told you before how I’ve been waiting five years for resolution of the Rambaldi storyline (longer than any storyline of any show I’ve ever watched), and now I’m mere weeks away. Very exciting stuff.

It looks like we’re racing to a very interesting finale. We’ve got the following storylines in play:

Good Sydney vs. Bad Sydney - how we got there doesn’t make much sense (couldn’t they have gotten Sydney’s blood in Season 1?), but it’s a fun storyline (even if it’s been done before in many action movies / video games). I’m hoping for the typical “lover must decide which one is which”, with Vaughn back into play.

Vaughn – is he good? Bad? Was Sydney in on his death all along? It seems like it, although that storyline has some gaping holes in it as well (wasn’t Syndey crying about his death when she was by herself?) Is he a Crazy Rambaldi Follower? An opposing force to the Rambaldi 12?

Sloane – he laid it all on the line last episode. He loves two things – Nadia and Rambaldi. With Nadia gone, he’s just got Rambaldi. After all these years, there’s no one else I’d want bringing Rambaldi’s ultimate endgame to fruition.

Irina – so is she on an opposing side of the Crazy Rambaldi 12? Is she racing them towards the Rambaldi endgame against them, or working with them to bring it about? Was she in on it all along? Is that why Vaughn never trusted her?

At the end of the day, I see this unfolding like a typical Alias episode of old. Sydney’s friends are captured and she has to save them. Sloane is bringing about some potential world-ending Rambaldi experiment and she has to stop him. Lots of action and suspense, and finally some answers instead of the typical cliffhanger ending.

Many questions – only four hours left to answer them all. But I can’t wait.

(PS – Alias writers, please give me a still-alive Rambaldi in the end. It’s how I’ve ended the story in my head and it really, really awesome.)

Mission: Impossible III

So I just got back from Mission: Impossible III and had to share a few quick thoughts:

Official Review: Great summer action movie with plenty of excitement. I liked it a lot. Mainly because it felt like a supercharged episode of Alias. You could definitely tell that JJ Abrams made this movie. Maybe I was looking for similarities to Alias / Lost more closely than the average viewer, but I noted a TON. The plot itself felt like a combination of parts of Alias Season 1 and 5. There were obvious similarities between characters in MI3 and characters on Alias (Marshall, Sloane), and a few scenes were shot nearly frame for frame with scenes from Lost and Alias.

But that's not a bad thing, since I love both Lost and Alias. Two last things I'd like to point out:

1. Greg Grunberg was in it (briefly) - continuing his streak of being in every project JJ Abrams has ever had.
2. The last credit of the movie, I kid you not, is a thank you to THE HANSO FOUNDATION.

Although you'll likely feel dirty giving your money to that whacked-out Scientologist Tom Cruise (rightfully so), I have to give this movie a glowing recommendation - especially for anyone who is a fan of Alias.

"Two For The Road" Analysis

Whoa. Best episode in a long time - and not just because they killed off two people (or did they?!) and had a "character turn" to evil - but you could just get this feeling the whole episode that things were finally moving along, that the plot was hurtling forward to what turned out to be a violent conclusion, rather than just "spinning wheels" like some episodes can sometimes seem.

The last five minutes in particular were amazing. Even for me, who was expecting Ana-Lucia to die, watching the last scene unfold had my brain working overtime. First, with Michael waking up, I came to the realization - "Oh my God, he's going to kill her and let HGI escape", then watching it happen, followed by the shocking Libby shooting, I was literally sitting with my jaw dropped. Great, great storytelling.

So what happened?

Michael. As we all guessed, he was not the same (Ben Folds style). He's either been brainwashed / hypnotized / drugged by the Others, or was simply given an ultimatum that he is carrying out: "Free HGI and lead the other Survivors into a trap, and we'll give you Walt back". (If it was as simple as "Kill Ana-Lucia and free HGI and you'll get Walt back", Michael wouldn't need to go on and on about how they need to attack the Others because they're so weak, blah blah blah. The Others clearly want to draw the Survivors to them… but why? I still stand by my statement that they're working towards a greater good. Intriguing...)

The good news is, we're due for a Michael flashback two weeks from now that should reveal the full extent of his experience with the Others (and give us our first true look at the Others and how they live!).

The real question is - now what? Regardless of his motives, Michael has gone to the point of no return - and I don't think there's any coming back from it. Sure he's always been obsessed with getting Walt back no matter what the cost, but it never went as far as actually KILLING someone. That's pretty serious, and I don’t think you'll get a "Oh, he was just doing it for Walt" get-out-of-jail-free card from everyone else about it. I suppose if they are able to determine and prove that he was under some sort of hypnotic trance when he busted up the Hatch, he could work his way back in the fold (and we'd have the interesting storyline of Michael dealing with his tortured soul after realizing what he did), but I really think this is the beginning of the end for Michael.

At this point, there are only two viable options I see for the Michael storyline:

Option 1: Become a full-fledged Other. Michael can't return to life with the Survivors. I doubt he could survive out in the Jungle very long by himself. Plus, I don't really see the Others giving Walt back to Michael, regardless of what acts Michael carries out for them. They have made it abundantly clear that Walt is the most important thing. More likey the bargain was "Free HGI and lead the Survivors into a trap, and we'll let you come live with us… with Walt." The only question then becomes - are they trustworthy? Or once Michael carries out his tasks, will they just kill him?

Option 2: Die. Probably the more likely option. Either our Survivors discover his treachery and take them out, the Others kill him (in the scenario from Option 1), or he merely gets himself killed doing something stupid in an attempt to get Walt (swimming after him as the Others take him away on a boat, running into the Smoke Monster, etc.) The Jungle is a dangerous place, and Michael could end up being an enemy of both our Survivors and the Others, making it even more dangerous.

Again, a lot of this depends on if he indeed "struck a deal" with the Others, and if so - if the Others are trustworthy or not.

Footnote – there seems to be some confusion as to what Michael actually did. His goal was to get HGI out of the Hatch. Killing Ana-Lucia and Libby (?) were unfortunate side effects of this plan (thus, Michael apologizing to Ana-Lucia before he shot her and looking sad when he accidentally shot Libby). He then shot himself (to make it look like HGI attacked him also – Jack Bauer style!) and let HGI go.



Ana-Lucia. Once again, if you have sex on a TV show, you die. Just like in real life. When will they learn? The good news is, much like Shannon, the writers gave her a fitting send off by letting the audience feel empathy for her before killing her. Seriously, who didn't feel sad for her when she's on the phone with her mom at the airport at the end? She had seemed to kick her dependence on alcohol, was about to get her life back in order and reuinte with her family, and then BAM. I really feel like her story was completed after her flashbacks last night, which is nice (unlike Libby…). The character truly came full circle. Tough female cop has tragedy that leads her to the dark side, becomes an alcoholic, goes to Australia with a strange older man, hits rock bottom, then picks herself up and turns her life around before being tragically killed on a mystery Island after a plane crash. It's a tale as old as time...

As for all the chatter about her being kicked off the show for being a boozehound (mostly from me), it turns out to not quite be true. Check out this interview with the show's creators that was posted right after last night's episode:

Was it always your intention to use Ana Lucia as a one-season character?

Damon Lindelof: A lot of this is going to sound like spin, so all we can give you is our word that this is exactly what happened. Around late February of last year, we started throwing our respective lines in the water to find the leader of the tail section, who we knew was going to be a Latina woman and who would be conceived as a romantic foil for Jack. We wanted her to be in her mid-thirties and be a detective from the LAPD. So we started putting out feelers unofficially because we wanted her to show up in the penultimate episode of last year. That way, when we started our plan for Season 2, it wouldn't feel like we had pulled her out of our asses. So, right around that time...
Carlton Cuse: I got a call from Michelle's agent saying, "Would you guys be interested in Michelle Rodriguez? But she's really only interested in being on the show for a year."
Damon: So we basically said, "A year is not necessarily ideal for us, but let's bring in Michelle and have the meeting." And she came in and met with Carlton and I and then, in the last 15 minutes, J.J. [Abrams] happened to be across the way doing some Alias stuff and he came over and sat down with her and we just hung out with her and chatted. It turned out that she worked in Hawaii on Blue Crush and knew a lot of people down there. But she made it very clear in that meeting that she's sort of a nomadic spirit and she did not want to commit to doing any more than [one season]. She wanted to do one kickass arc, as she described it, and we basically started to wrap our brains around her energy and say, "Yeah, we'll bring you on the show and then we'll kill you off at the end of the year." And she was totally cool with it and we were totally cool with it, and we parted ways and talked amongst ourselves. Obviously, the network and the studio normally don't want to get into a situation where they're not making multiyear deals, but we assured them that this was in fact the plan, and that even if Michelle was a rocking sensation on the show, we were going to stick to the plan. So they signed off on it and made the deal accordingly.

And then the DUI...

Carlton: Then she got this DUI and Damon and I looked at each other and we were like, "Oh, great. Everybody is going to think we're killing her off because she got a DUI." But there really wasn't anything we could do about that. I mean, the story was set. We had made plans. With Lost, we think it out well ahead of when we actually shoot it. We thought about altering our plan, but [this] was in fact what was best for the show. The fact that she got a DUI would come and go and what would live on would be the show, and our plan was still the best plan for the character. Ironically, we actually thought about changing it the other way around once [the DUI] happened, but it really was the best story. We wanted to tell the best story.
Damon: And obviously that decision was further mitigated by the fact that Libby is shot at the same time as Ana Lucia. Basically then we said, "Oh, s--t. Both Michelle and Cynthia were busted the same night for DUI and we've got this story point coming up where they essentially both get shot at the same time, so it's going to look like this is the Lost producers attempt to say, 'Don't drive drunk!'" But as Carlton says, all it created in us was [the thought that], "Maybe we shouldn't do the plan now, 'cause people are going to think this is a reaction to [the DUIs], as opposed to this [plan] existing prior to that event."
Carlton: As you'll see, everything that happens for the rest of the season all sort of falls from this event. And we're not doing ourselves or the fans of the show or the show itself any service by altering those plans because of Michelle's extracurricular activities.
Damon: Not to mention that we didn't even know if that option would be available to us. We were still functioning under the auspices of that meeting, which was Michelle saying, "I want to do a year and then move on."

Did you meet with Michelle to make sure everyone was still on the same page?

Damon: Michelle happened to be [in Los Angeles] and she came by to see us. We basically said to her, "So we’re going to stay on course." And at that point, Michelle was kinda like, "Hey, I'm living in Hawaii...." She might have been able to wrap her brain around [staying] a little bit longer on the show, but she did not say, "I want to stay on the show!" She was basically like, "Yeah. That's a good plan."
Carlton: And once we told her what was happening, she was incredibly supportive. She thought it was sort of a kickass way to go, and she got very on board with the idea of how she was going to be exiting the show.

Rumor has it she was a hard-ass on the set and everyone hated her. Care to set the record straight?

Damon: We're not in Hawaii on the set so all we can speak to is our working relationship with Michelle and what we have heard from the other actors and directors on the show, and we never heard anything remotely resembling that she was a hard-ass. You know, she's Michelle. She's got a very playful spirit. But she's totally professional and got along well with all the other actors. We get calls over the course of our career about difficult actors. We did not get those calls about Michelle.



Also, did anyone else notice that when Locke lies about stuff... people die? First there was Locke lying about Boone's "accident" that resulted in Jack treating him inappropriately (leading to his death), now Locke lies about how Ana-Lucia got injured and she ends up dead.

Basically, if you lie or have sex, people will die. Good life lessons.


Tom. Jack's Dad’s “code name”. Apparently he has an illegitimate daughter with this woman:



Our first assumption is to think of the only female Aussie on our Island (Claire), but even for a show that seems to have everyone’s lives intertwined this feels a bit “soap opera-y”. The only problem is, unless this daughter ends up being on the Island, or someone else (in addition to Ana-Lucia and Sawyer) also interacted with Jack’s Dad, we’ll never find out any more – which seems unlikely.

But the real question is - why did he need protection? He hit the sauce for a few days, then drove over to a lady’s house in the pouring rain to ask about his daughter. What was he afraid she was going to do? Attack him? Did he “hire” Ana-Lucia to protect him, or to protect her from him? The flashback, which it explains why Ana-Lucia was in Australia and neatly tied up her story, didn’t really make too much sense.

As much as I hate to say it, (because it feels like some sort of retread between Irina Derevko and Darth Vader) the more we see things like this the more inclined am I to feel like Christian Shepherd somehow has a hand in everything going on with the Island as well as everyone on the Island. I’m tempted to start wondering if he’s the “Great One” HGI was referring to, but that would be crazy thoughts for now. Keep it on the back burner.

Speaking of crazy…

Libby. Is she really dead? Based on the previews for next week (and the logical conclusion of her character arc), Ana-Lucia is definitely dead. But Libby? Not only did she never get a flashback of her own, but they teased us by showing her in the mental institution in one of Hurley’s. That seems a bit cruel and unusual. Could it be that she has simply been a red herring all along? Can blankets save you from bullets? Let’s weigh the pros and cons:

She’s Dead!

• She was shot multiple times
• She’s on an Island without good medical facilities (even with super-doc Jack)
• The episode was called “Two for the Road” (if only Ana-Lucia died, that's "One for the Road")
• She and Ana-Lucia both got DUIs on the same night (say, out drowning their sorrows after they found out they would both be getting killed off the show or after filming their final scenes?)
• She died right after getting some romance, just like Shannon and Ana-Lucia
• If she’s alive, Michael is busted
• Next week’s previews show Hurley crying (he hearted her!)

She’s Alive!

• She had blankets to cushion the blow of the bullets (umm… right...)
• She never got a backstory
• She appeared in Hurley’s backstory – even a worse tease that not having one of her own!
• Killing two Tailers and no Survivors seems unfair
• She could be “in a coma”, allowing Michael’s treachery to continue for a few episodes
• Next week’s previews show them saying “She’s dead” instead of “They’re dead”

It’s a tough call, but I’m leaning towards “She’s Dead” – making her an intentional red herring the show’s creators threw our way. I mean, how many of us were certain that she had to be an Other at some point? (Brian raises hand)

Even if Hurley suddenly remembers her from the Mental Institution, that wouldn’t explain who she was or how she got on the Island. He would just think “Wait, I saw her in the Hospital” – and it would go nowhere from there. The only way that would happen is if she appeared in someone else’s flashbacks (like Jack’s father this week). That could give us the explanation about her life in a bittersweet “too little too late” fashion, that makes us mourn her even more.


HGI. He’s free! Like I said, death or escape both achieve the same goals – get him (and his knowledge of the Island) away from our Survivors. It also very interestingly shifts the “Bad Guy” from HGI to Michael for the remainder of the season. Is this goodbye to HGI? Is he going to end up dead at the hands of the Others? Was his mission really to “bring Locke back?”

Initially, I thought that HGI was a Rebel Dharmite – but the more he talked, the more he sounded like a Card Carrying Dharmite, espousing the greatness of his leader, and fearing the repercussions from failing him on a mission. But what was his mission?

Although the logical one would be reconnaissance of the Survivors, with Michael now under their powers – he could easily give them any information they needed about his fellow Survivors. Why send HGI on a mission to potentially gather information you already have?

If his mission was to “cause a division among the Survivors”, he didn’t really accomplish that either. In fact, Locke and Jack seem closer than ever now (at least they did pre-Ana-Lucia death).

Is it possible he legitimately just got caught?

Or is it possible that indeed he was coming for Locke? Locke’s argument is a good one – he had the chance to kill him when he was under the Blast Door and didn’t. For that matter, he had chances to attack Jack, Eko, and Sayid at some point or another during his stay in the Hatch… and didn’t.

It’s possible that he thrust out at Ana-Lucia in rage since she did kill two Others… but so did Eko. But if Locke was a “good one”, wouldn’t they have come for him right away – like they did to the Tailers, instead of waiting over a month?

I don’t know. Ironically, with HGI gone, I have more questions about him and what his goals were than I had when he was in the Hatch. We’ll have to see how his story continues to unfold…


The Lost Experience. Okay, I kinda jumped into the explanation of the Hanso Commercial and website without much warning last night (mostly due to the numerous requests for information about it from other people), but let's back up for a minute.

ABC and the creators of Lost decided to launch an "ARG" (Alternate Reality Game) this summer around the show, to help entertain us during the summer season so that we're not forced to "go outside and enjoy nature" or "socialize with real people." Thank God!

These things were invented way back in the day, but have recently become popular thanks to the Internet. It's called "Alternate Reality" because all the information you see about it is presented as if it were reality. The Hanso website looks like a legitimate website for a real organization. It's often very hard to distinguish between true websites involved in the ARG and fan-created ones trying to trick you (that's why I'm here - I'll be sure to let you know).

The whole point of an ARG is to allow the obsessive compulsive fans to delve deeper into the mythology or background of a story without boring the average viewer with it. In this case, it looks like the Lost Experience will give us insight to the history of Hanso and its current state.
There are a few important points to keep in mind:

1. The televised program is still king. There won't be anything in the ARG that would prevent the average Lost viewer from understanding the storyline or what is going on. Don't be surprised if we spend all summer learning about past failed Dharma experiments that are never mentioned on the show itself – or referenced subtly in the background (such as the Bad Twin book).
2. Many will be concerned with discovering “secrets” in the websites, rather than trying to understand what they mean in the greater story. Already I’ve seen multiple people going crazy about finding hidden images or words – but very few people are actually stepping back and examining them, asking the “why” questions, which are really the key to why we should care.
3. Historically, these things have gotten so convoluted that even the most diehard fans struggle to keep up. I’ll try and keep you guys posted with the most relevant information as it becomes uncovered.
4. There will be discrepancies between the show and the game. Chances are, although the show’s creators might have given a general “theme” for the game, chances are many of the details are being created by a separate creative team. This leads to differences that eagle eyed fans might notice and read too much into – such as the date that the picture of Alfred Hanso was taken vs. the date of the Swan Hatch film, etc. Although the makers of Lost have taken great care to make sure every detail is okay, if there was anywhere that they would start to slip, it would be in this game.

So here’s the game so far:

The Lost Experience is running alongside the second season of Lost in the UK, and during the break between season 2 and 3 in the United States and Canada.

The UK was the first to receive clues for the game on Tuesday May 2, 2006 in the form of a commercial for the fictional Hanso Foundation during a commercial break in the premiere of the series' second season. The commercial was again repeated during the subsequent second and third episodes shown that evening.

The commercial gave viewers a telephone number (0800 66 66 40) which when called gave the information listed in the post below.

The same commercial aired during last night’s Lost in the United States, giving the phone number 1-877-HANSORG (which has been plagued with busy signals and circuit overload in poor planning by ABC). Thus far the first US clue seems to be identical to the UK clue. Australians received the same clue the following night during their episode of Lost. It’s truly a worldwide game, which is intriguing given that the United States is almost a full season ahead of the UK and Australia in terms of episodes.

The only “Official Website” in the ARG thus far is The Hanso Foundation, although other websites are sure to follow. At this point, only a few areas of the The Hanso Foundation appear accessible – but look for this to change as the summer approaches.

Should you care?

The game will undoubtedly provide a good deal of entertainment to uber-nerds like myself who love to crack the mysteries of Lost and understand the greater meaning behind it all. To the average viewer, they serve as a “neat” form of advertisement that makes Lost seem more and more real.

In the end, I’m pretty sure I’ll end up totally obsessed with this game. So rest assured there will be posts about it in the future as the story develops. Thus far, we’re looking at a tale of Genetic Engineering gone terribly wrong, power struggles among the Senior Management of Hanso, and the hints of a Rebel Dharmite by the name of Persiphone.

I’m intrigued.

Secrets of TheHansoFoundation.Org... so far

Did you catch the Hanso commercial during this week's episode of Lost? What was that all about?

Well... apparently ABC isn't that smart and setup a phone number that had exactly three free lines available. With all of American calling, it's been busy most of the night. I have yet to get through.

But... assuming the phone number 1-877-HANSORG gives the same message as the UK phone number that was given out earlier, here's what you're missing:

http://www.thetailsection.com/hanso.main.menu.mp3

After a general message, you are offered five options:

1. General
2. Alvar Hanso
3. Dr. Thomas Mittelwerk
4. Hugh McIntyre
5. Peter Thompson

Option 1 – General Audio: http://www.thetailsection.com/hanso.option.one.mp3

MALE VOICE SPEAKING IN DANISH: Det er alt fra mig fra i aften. Og bliv her for om lidt for du nyheder efterfulgt af Klassiker Rock fra 60'erne och 70'erne inklusive en exklusiv afspilning af Geronimo Jackson første komplette album Magna Carta. Lige efter et par ord fra vores sponsor.

Translation: That's all for me tonight. And stay tuned for some news followed by Classic rock from the 60s and 70s including an exclusive recordning by Geronimo Jackson's first complete album Magna Carta. Right after some words from our sponsor.

PHONE RINGING - WOMAN’S VOICE: Welcome to Verizon’s voice messaging service.

WOMAN’S VOICE: The Hanso foundation is located at 544 Persand Klingbai DK 1604 Copen…

STATIC WOMAN’S VOICE: If you can hear me don’t listen to their lies. This is Persephone. I haven’t got much time, none us do. If you want to know the truth about the Hanso foundation, the real story is in the number. A lie...(?) always snaps under the breaking strain. Use this password on their site… BREAKING STRAIN! They’re coming!

Option 2 – Alvar Hanso Audio: http://www.thetailsection.com/hanso.option.two.mp3

MALE VOICE SPEAKING IN DANISH: Hvis du bliver hængende lidt endnu kommer vi straks tilbage med side A fra Jeronimo Jackson's Magna Carta lige efter disse ord fra vores sponsor.

Translation: If you stay for a little while longer we'll be right back with side A from Jeronimo Jackson's Magna Carta right after these words from our sponsor.

AD BREAK FOR MONSTER.COM

PHONE RINGING - WOMAN’S VOICE: Welcome to Verison’s voice messaging service.

WOMAN’S VOICE: You’ve reached the Offices of Alvar Hanso President and CEO of Hanso Foundantion

STATCIC WOMAN’S VOICE (ECHOING): Where is Alvar Hanso? What have they done with him? Who is in charge here…

DIAL TONE AND THEN SCREATCHING SOUND WOMAN’S VOICE: Welcome to the Hanso Foundation

Option 3 – Dr. Thomas Mittelwerk Audio: http://www.thetailsection.com/hanso.option.three.mp3

MALE VOICE SPEAKING IN DANISH: Du lyttede til side A af Jeronimo Jackson's klassiske album Magna Carta. Vi kommer straks tilbage med side B efter disse meddelelser.

Translation: You just heard side A of Jeronimo Jackson's classical album Magna Carta. We will be right back with side B after these messages.

PHONE RINGING WOMANS VOICE: Welcome to Verizon’s voice messaging service.

MALE VOICE: You’ve reached the office of Dr. Thomas Vernon Mittelwerk, Sr. VP, COO, and Chief Technologist of the Hanso Foundation. I will be unreachable for the next three weeks. However, for those employees of Paik-Heavey Industries (Paik, as in Sun's family?!), and Widmore Corp. (featured in the background of one of Charlie's flashbacks and on the pregnancy test Sawyer found on the Island) engaged in active projects, I will be continuously updating the confidential information line. Please refer to your project manual for hotline access instructions. Thank You and Namaste.

WATER DROP SOUND

Option 4 – Hugh McIntyre Audio: http://www.thetailsection.com/hanso.option.four.mp3

MALE VOICE SPEAKING IN DANISH: Hvis de bliver hængende lidt endnu får du mere uforstyrret musik efter desse ord fra vores sponsor.

Translation: If you stay a little while longer you'll get some more uninterrupted music after these words from our sponsor.

PHONE RINGING - WOMANS VOICE: Welcome to Verizon’s voice messaging service

MAN’S VOICE: Hi this is Hugh Macintyre, VP of Communication and director of the Hanso Foundation, I will return to the office in two weeks. If you are calling about the inquiry into our Korean offshore project please hang up and contact our legal department. To hear more info about Joop, the world’s oldest orangutan, please refer to our web site at http://www.thehansofoundation.org . Thank you and Namaste.

STATIC MESSAGE 1: MALE VOICE NORTHERN EUROPEAN ACCENT: Hugh. Thomas. Just got the changes. Good work… we should go ahead and rename the Accelerated Remote Viewing Training Facilities as well. We should try to put a public face on all this. Call me.

MESSAGE 2: WOMAN’S VOICE, ENGLISH ACCENT: Hugh its Darla. I need to talk to you about Sri Lanka. This just isn’t right.

WOMAN'S VOICE: End of messages. Goodbye

Option 5 – Peter Thompson Audio: http://www.thetailsection.com/hanso.option.five.mp3

MALE VOICE SPEAKING IN DANISH: ... nyheder og vejret efter desse meddelelser. Translation: ... news and the weather forecast after these messages.

AD BREAK FOR MONSTER.COM

WOMANS VOICE: Welcome to Verison’s voice messaging service

WOMANS VOICE, US ACCENT: "Hello. You have reached the office of Peter Thompson, VP General Council and Secretary of the Hanso foundation. Mr. Thompson is not available to take your calls. If this is regarding the inquiry into Korean offshore project we must regretfully decline to comment....."

THE PHONE IS SNATCHED AWAY ANGRY MAN, US ACCENT: "Give me the phone Ireen. Give me it. This is Peter Thompson. As chief legal officer, I would like to remind you that to make threats against me and my colleagues, or any representative of the Widmore Corp. or Paik-Heavy Industries then these acts are criminal. Make no mistake - we will locate and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law! That’s a promise. Namaste!"

Now What?

1. Go to http://www.thehansofoundation.org
2. Go to the "Newsletter (Sign Up)" page
3. Pick a User Name - whatever you want - and click "Next"
4. It will say "Hello (User Name) can you see this? in crazy text
5. Type: "Yes" and press Enter (you can't click "Next", which is scribbled out)
6. It will say "Okay, it's me Persephone. What's the password?"
7. Type: "Breaking Strain" and you'll see this:

Once you see this, you're "logged in" and can now get farther through other sections of the site... like Joop's Corner!

1. Go to the "Joop" page
2. Click on "Send Joop a Message"
3. Type in "Hello Joop"
4. Joop will go crazy and show you an underwater image
5. Keep clicking on the circles where your mouse turns to a pointer (as if it's a hyperlink)
6. Eventually, you'll see this:

After scrolling around for a while, you can click on the name at the bottom... which gives you this:

Again, after scrolling around and reading it you can click on the circled name at the bottom, resulting in:

Once you return to the main page, if you click on "Newsletter (Sign Up)" again, you'll see the following:

Also - do you see how the website is keeping track of the date and time? Me thinks there will be more "time released" clues as the summer approaches... Clever Lost marketing people! Now I'll be thinking of Lost all summer!

What does it all mean? I'll get to that later. For now, get exploring!

Lost - "Two For The Road"

Episode Title: “Two For The Road”

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: My first thought of seeing the title was thinking this was some play on the old saying “one for the money, two for the show” – but some quick Internet research (how did people ever find out deeper meanings before the Internet existed?) revealed that “Two For The Road” is actually the title of a 1967 Audrey Hepburn movie.

The movie was considered experimental for its time because the story is told in a non-linear fashion, with scenes from the present juxtaposed with scenes from the beginning of the story. This leaves the viewer to guess what has actually happened during the movie – and sometimes the truth is revealed in later scenes.

Hmmmm – sound familiar? Sounds an awful lot like our favorite “flashback reveal” TV show, Lost. I think we’re on to something here.

So what’s the deeper meaning? Well, the storyline of the movie goes something like this:

Joanna is in a touring girl's choir and Mark is a struggling architect, meeting on the road in Europe. The film shows (in flashback) their first meeting, memorable moments in their courtship and early wedded life, their travels through Europe, their broken vow never to have children, and their increasing tensions that led to both of them having extra-marital affairs.

So how does this relate to Lost?

Well, this is an Ana-Lucia episode (I know, I know – two episodes for her but only one for Eko / Bernard, and none for Libby? Outrage!), so she would seem to be the female who meets someone on the road – but who? Leave it to the crazy Canadians to ruin it with their commercial for this week’s episode!

Potential Spoiler here. Click at your own risk!

Note: this is your WARNING. Don’t click and then complain that I “ruined the episode for you.”

Don’t blame me, blame Canada!

http://www.lostlinks.net/videos/canada.wmv

For the sake of those who don’t click on it, I won’t go into any more detail about it. I ask that you do the same in the Comments section. We’ll chat about it post-episode…

But that would just be the literal meaning of the episode title… not the “deeper meaning.” I can’t help but shake the feeling that “Two for the Road” could also be referring to two people literally ending up on the road – on a pathway, on a journey on the Island.

Next week’s episode is the mysteriously titled “?”, which I assume refers to the creamy middle of the Island we saw on the Blast Door. I could see Locke set out on his journey for this place this episode… taking someone with him (I don’t know, say Mr. Eko?).

But lastly, when I hear “Two for the Road”, I have this creeping suspicion that it could be referring to something darker… like two people ending up in the road – as in underground – as in dead. The previews show a struggle between Ana-Lucia and HGI – how shocked would we all be if both ended up dead as a result?

It would accomplish two things:

1. Keep HGI and his motives secret, keeping our Survivors in the dark. He won’t be able to refute Michael’s claims, he won’t be able to be tortured, he won’t be able to spill any information on the Others. Lost writers seem to like this plot device of introducing a character and then getting rid of him before any information can be revealed (see: Goodwin, Ethan, and to some degree Desmond).
2. Reports claim Michelle Rodriguez is a distraction to the rest of the cast and somewhat of a bad seed on the Island (see: drunk driving, being in the movie BloodRayne) – killing her off would be a nice way to prevent her from distracting the cast (and also allow her to more easily serve her recently received jail time for drunk driving in California).

Plus, the audience might be expecting some deaths this season (logically, in the upcoming “War” promised on the commercials), so killing people off right now would come as a shock – serving as a nice change from the Boone and Shannon deaths we saw coming from a mile away.

Well, now I guess it would just be a surprise to anyone who doesn’t read the Blog…




TV Guide Description: Jack and Kate bring an exhausted Michael back to the camp, and with him, news about "The Others." Meanwhile, Ana Lucia attempts to get the prisoner to confess, and Hurley plans a surprise date for Libby.


TV Guide Breakdown: Jack and Kate bringing the newly found Mikey back to camp is the most intriguing part of the episode. I won’t rehash it too much here (check the “S.O.S.” Review for my full thoughts), but as I said last week, I’d put any amount of money on the fact that Michael has been brainwashed / drugged or is working for the Others at this point. He’s leading our Survivors into a trap.

Meanwhile, we have Ana-Lucia giving her best shot at getting HGI to talk. Ummm… excuse me? Didn’t she already do this? Remember the episode where she convinced him to draw a map to the balloon? What’s changed that makes her want to try and talk to him again now? It seems like a forced way to give Ana-Lucia something to do this episode… and possibly get her killed.

Lastly, we have Hurley planning a surprise date for Libby. Yes, it seems like a throwaway storyline for the episode – but there’s always the chance we’ll get some more hints of Libby’s past (since we’re not getting a Libby flashback this season). More than likely, it’ll just provide some comic / romantic relief from what should be an otherwise tense episode (just like the token 2 minutes of romance 24 likes to throw in each episode).

Wow – I’m actually really excited for this episode, but after breaking down the TV Guide description, it doesn’t sound too exciting does it? I hope this is because the writers are starting to clamp down on the release of information. We’ve only got three episodes left before the two hour season finale – it’s time to get this party started!

Ana-Lucia.

Remember her story? Yeah, me neither – we did see it way back in November. As a refresher, here’s her life, in a nutshell:

• Born into a police family
• Her mom is her boss at the police station
• Was in a relationship with “Danny” that didn’t work out
• Got shot on the job, which made her lose her unborn baby
• Person who shot her (Jason McCormick) was brought into police custody, but she refused to ID him
• Instead, followed him (to Australia?) and killed him herself, to get her sweet revenge

Much like Rose and Bernard, it just feels like we know her whole story, her motives, and what drives her. I don’t see the need for this second flashback, which makes me think even more that she’s going to die. The only thing that’s missing is for the audience to start liking her (or have her in a romantic relationship) before killing her so that her death has some resonance. You need to have someone who mourns her, who is affected by her death.

(But if you clicked on the Canadian preview above, it looks like we might get that this episode too…)

Lost Reset.

Okay, we’re about to start the whirlwind journey to the conclusion of this season of Lost. But with so many repeats and “recap episodes”, how can the average viewer keep track of what even happened this year? Well, if you’ve never seen Lost before, here is the entire season – in one paragraph.

The Hatch is blasted open and we meet Desmond – who introduces the concept of entering the Numbers every 108 minutes and then runs away. We are introduced to the Tailers, who have had a rougher time on the Island than our Survivors. Ana-Lucia accidentally shoots and kills Shannon. Michael runs off in the jungle like a crazy to find Walt. Henry Gale is captured by CFL, interrogated, and seems to be an evil Other. Kate remains hot as ever. Locke sees a mysterious map on a Blast Door in the Hatch. Michael returns.

How did it take us 22 episodes to get to this point? I kid…

But based on this setup, here are the storylines that I think NEED to be resolved this season:

Walt. The forgotten storyline of this season seems to be making a comeback with Michael’s re-emergence. Last season’s finale seemed to indicate the kidnapping of Walt would be the primary storyline of season two – but that hasn’t been the case. At this point, they need to wrap it up for the simple sake that we, as viewers both don’t remember and don’t care too much about it. To drag it out any farther would just make it carry less and less impact when it finally is revisited. The good news is that the producers promised a few months back that this story will be resolved before the story ends. How? I’m not sure – as I mentioned before, due to the pesky “growing up” of Malcolm David Kelly, showing him again would be weird, given that only a month has passed on the Island. I really can’t see the show killing Walt (although that would be the easy way out). They either need to go with a “Dharma Rapid Aging Experiment” or keep him hidden… but if they’re keeping him hidden, I don’t consider that “wrapping up the storyline.” You’ve got your work cut out, Lost writers.

Numbers. No, I’m not looking for an answer to what the Numbers mean. That’s a question I don’t think we’ll ever get answered. I’m looking for resolution to the Number Entering in the Hatch. We’ve been teased a few times with non-entry, but each time they’ve been entered just in time to keep the cycle going (or have they?). When we first learned about the Numbers, I thought for sure the season two finale would end with clock finally striking zero, fade to black, LOST - but at this point, since we’ve already seen the Egyptian Hieroglyphics and heard HGI’s claims that nothing would happen, it would be pretty anti-climatic. I think they need to wrap up the Numbers storyline before the finale and give us something new to ponder over the summer.

Desmond. Actually, I’ll take Henry Ian Cusick returning to either Lost or 24. On both shows, he stuck around for a few episodes, was very intriguing, had great chemistry with the cast, and then disappeared. On Lost, he went running off into the Jungle, thinking that the Numbers were going to expire and the world was going to end. Well, it’s a month later – shouldn’t he realize that the world didn’t end? Rather than living by yourself in the Jungle with a backpack full of supplies, shouldn’t he want to come back to the Hatch where there are supplies, other people to interact with, and Hot Kate? I know I would. Similar to Walt, the writers need to bring him back before the average viewer forgets about who he is. But how? Well, I think the key lies in the very fact that he hasn’t returned. He’s obviously somewhere else where he has enough supplies to survive, somewhere he thinks he’s safe from the “world ending” – like, say, another Hatch? Assuming that Locke and Eko make a journey to the mystery “?” in the next few episodes, it would neatly tie up the Desmond storyline in a logical way if they stumble upon him there. He seemed to be running through the Jungle with a purpose – a direction – as if he’s heading somewhere. Perhaps Desmond knows more about the Island than he let on, and is aware of the other Hatch locations – but was “tied down” by the Numbers, preventing him from ever going to them. Now that our Survivors are manning the Swan, he’s finally got his chance. There are rumblings (which some claim are intentional red herrings put out by Lost producers) that the Season Finale will be a Desmond flashback. Sounds fantastic to me.

(PS – as for 24, I’d like to see Desmond team up with Jack next season in Germany – where Jack is helping Desmond out on a mission, since he hosed him earlier this season.)

HGI. There are really two options for HGI – either he escapes, or he gets killed. He won’t be sticking around as a prisoner into next season (it almost feels like the storyline is dragging at this point, with Ana-Lucia questioning him… AGAIN). Since he’s pure evil (see picture from “S.O.S.” post below for confirmation), I don’t see him confessing his treachery and living happily among our Survivors. Which leaves us with only escape or death. Either would accomplish the goal of having him not reveal too many secrets about the Island to our Survivors, but based on my reasoning above, I’m anticipating HGI going the way of Goodwin and Ethan – Island Native / Other who dies after revealing only a few nuggets of information.

Airplane. Somewhere around the middle of this season (I think during a podcast), we were told that we would find out how or why the airplane crashed before the season was over. Based on everything we’ve seen so far this season, the only thing that would make sense to me is if somehow not entering the Numbers in the Hatch resulted in some magnetic energy being released, causing a pulse bomb of sorts that could theoretically knock an airplane out of the sky. Or does this mean that we’ll learn why our Survivors magically survived without a scratch while everyone else died? Something tells me that might be giving too much away – but I’d be happy with the simple knowledge of “what made the plane crash.”

Storylines I'd like to see explained, but aren’t holding my breath for:

Blast Door Map. With the upcoming “?” episode, I think we’ll get some answers about the information contained on the Blast Door, but I bet we don’t get a full disclosure of who made it and why. Since it revealed a mere three episodes ago, I would be okay with this story bleeding into Season Three (where they could potentially introduce the viewer to the Rebel Dharmite storyline). There’s also such a sheer amount of information on the map (references to Flame Hatch, Magnus Hanso, etc.) that I don’t think there is time to get to this season. But if they would at least find a way to keep the Blast Door down and the Black Light on (Michael should be able to figure this out… except he’s probably one of them now), they could begin analyzing this season.

Dress Up Others. Kate finally revealed to Jack that she found a fake beard and theatrical glue, but now the question is “why?” Will we finally learn that the Others have a very civilized society going on behind the scenes on the Island (perhaps at the mysterious “?”) or will we be left to wonder why they’re trying to make our Survivors think they are dirty pirates? Since answering this would seemingly “pull back the curtain” on the Wizard of Lost, I bet it’s something the writers keep in their back pocket for a while longer – although you can bet if Jack runs into Zeke again, it’ll be the first thing he mentions to him.

Healing Powers. So we’ve now got both Locke and Rose being healed by the Island – will we ever learn how or why? The logical explanation seems to be the magnetic properties surrounding the Swan Hatch – will we once again see Locke lose his ability to walk if he ventures away from it to find the “?”? (that looks weird when you write it). Or will the writers let this detail slide, leaving us to wonder about the magical properties of the Island?

Storylines we don’t stand a chance of getting, so don’t get your hopes up:

Smokey. What is it? Why is it? How is it? It’s the all-seeing, all-knowing, shape-shifting smoke monster on the Island that might hold the key to it all. Don’t look for this explanation until season six.

Hanso. Is he on the Island? Did his great-grandfather crash there on the Black Rock? What is the purpose to his madness? Again, look for a confrontation with Hasno himself to be the final scene of the series, if it happens at all. (Note: this is where the Alias connection comes in again. If JJ gives us Rambaldi in the Alias finale, I’d bet we get Hanso in the Lost finale. If not, it’s just a pipe dream).

Connections. Why do our Survivors and their family and friends keep appearing in one another’s flashbacks? Is there some underlying connection between all of them? Were they all specifically chosen to be on that Island? Or is it just a subtle way of teaching us that all humans are connected on this planet, even though we don’t realize it? Revelations about this might slowly be revealed over the next few seasons, but a full reveal – if all our Survivors were specifically chosen – would seem unlikely at this point.

Numbers. What do they mean? Are they just retired Yankees? Are they the key to some mathematical equation that the Dharma folks discovered? Sadly, much like the 47 on Alias, don’t look for this to ever be answered.


So there you have it. Plenty of Lost goodness to wrap your mind around this week. Remember to keep the Comments spoiler-free for the sake of our readers with will power!

Worst Blogger Ever

I apologize. It's been nearly two weeks without a post on the Blog. Don't blame me, blame yourselves. If you all would pay me for reading this site, I could write about Lost, Alias, 24, and anything else you wanted to hear all day, every day. But since the Blog doesn't pay the bills, I am forced to keep a pesky job which sometimes forces me away from my computer for extended periods of time, resulting in no Blog updates.

For now, here is a lame last-minute post about tonight's episodes of Alias and Lost.

8:00 - Alias

Episode Title: "There's Only One Sydney Bristow"

TV Guide Description: Sydney cuts her maternity leave short to rescue Will, who has been abducted by archnemesis Anna Espinosa. Meanwhile, Sloane gets one step closer to obtaining a cure for Nadia.

To refresh our memories...

Will:



Anna Espinosa:




Should You Watch? ABSOLUTELY. This should be the resolution to the Will / Francie / Evil Francie / Anna Espinosa storyline that occupied much of Seasons 1 and 2!


9:00 - Lost

Episode Title: "Reckoning"

TV Guide Description: The survivors of Oceanic flight 815 have been locked in a test of faith ever since they crashed on the island. Discover how this faith has been tested for both the fuselage survivors and tailies.

Are you a person of faith or science? This is the dilemma that plagues the island survivors and also defines their character. Discover how faith in the hatch led Locke on a mission to find a way inside, and how his discovery of Desmond led to his belief that punching in the numbers every 108 minutes would ensure everyone's survival. In addition, Michael's dogged mission in finding Walt, the tailies fight for survival during their first 48 days through their collision with the fuselage survivors, the uncertainty of prisoner Henry Gale's allegiances, and tensions between the survivors and "The Others" have left everyone questioning what they believe in. Additionally, the healing powers of love are explored through a timid Hurley's struggle with asking Libby out on a date, through the strong bond between Sun and Jin, and through Jack and Sawyer's mutual - yet unrequited - attractions to Kate.

Should You Watch? Sure. I don't think there's anything else worthwhile on at 9:00. But this is a full-fledged recap episode. There won't be anything new here, just some storylines stressed that might hint at what is upcoming on Lost. These serve to aid the average viewer (with a forgetful memory) of what happened on the show since last September. But Blog readers like yourself probably don't need any sort of refresher.


Sorry for the lame post. I promise we'll be back to normal in time for new Lost next week.

Express your anger in the Comments section!

ALIAS... and why you should care.

As I’m sure you’re all aware, this Wednesday there will be no Lost. No new Lost. No repeat Lost. No “special recap show” Lost. Why? Because after a grueling four month hiatus, a little show by the name of Alias is coming back.

Why should you, the average Lost viewer care?

Because it is probably going to show us what we’re in for when Lost finally comes to its conclusion four or five years from now. How?

Both shows were created by JJ Abrams. Both shows offer deep mythology and multiple-season-spanning storylines. Both shows are often incredibly frustrating by not giving the audience the answers to the mysteries of the show. Both have mysterious numbers show up ALL THE TIME without an explanation of why (yet)! Both featured actors Greg Grunberg and Terry O’ Quinn. Replace “Rambaldi” with “Island”, and they’re almost the same show :)

These are the final episode of Alias ever. It’s the last chance to answer the questions the show raised, and see what sort of resolution we get for the characters. Basically, it’s time to show your cards. Did you have answers to the questions you teased for years, or were you just making things up as you went along? If we get answers to Alias, we’ll get answers to Lost (someday). If we don’t, chances are we might not ever get sufficient answers to Lost.

See the importance?

I know what you’re thinking: “But I’ve never watched this ‘Alias’ show before, I can’t just start now!”

Wrong. Here is the Cliff’s Notes version of “The Alias Storyline So Far”:

Alias is like James Bond meets Buffy meets Da Vinci Code. Kickass female lead character, mysterious ancient prophecy, fun spy gadgets and costumes, and shifty double crossing characters who always seem to have alterior motives. The big underlying mystery on the show centers around Milo Rambaldi, a 15th Century Architect / Philosopher / Potential Prophet. (SAT-wise, Lost::Island, Alias::Rambaldi). Over the course of the show, there has been a race to collect pieces of his works, assemble them, and figure out what in the world they are supposed to be used for. There have also been crazy prophecies that may involve the characters on the show and may bring about the end of the world. But this isn’t some “fantasy show”. Just like Lost, everything is based in science. Most characters on the show don’t believe the Rambaldi prophecy stuff, even as it keeps coming true.

Intriguing? We’re just getting started. Here are the season by season breakdowns of major storylines:

SEASON ONE

The main character is Sydney Bristow:



She thought she was a CIA agent… until she found out that she was actually working for SD-6, a secret terrorist organization who tells their employees that they’re working for the CIA (discovered in the first episode after SD-6 kills her fiance). Determined to avenge his death and destroy SD-6, she approaches the real CIA with the plan of being a double agent - continuing to work for SD-6, but all the while stealing intelligence and foiling their plans for the CIA.

Her “handler” (contact inside the CIA) is the dreamy Micahel Vaughan:



They have smoking hot chemistry with each other, but due to the whole “secret agent” deal, can never be seen in public together, and thus can’t go steady. It’s sad.

Sydney comes to discover that her father, Jack Bristow, who also works for SD-6 is also a double agent for the CIA. Like father like daughter!



But everyone else in SD-6 thinks that they are honestly working for the good guys… except the SD-6 leader, Arvin Sloane (the “bad guy”, if you will):



(He’s obsessed with all things Rambaldi.)

Jack and Sydney, sometimes working together, are trying to destroy SD-6 from the inside. The main goal of SD-6 is to collect as many artifacts of Milo Rambaldi as possible. (Honestly, when you watch the first season of Alias, you think “Wow – Dan Brown ripped off most of this stuff for his book “The Da Vinci Code” from Alias… only it’s done much better on Alias.” I really think JJ Abrams could sue Dan Brown for copyright infringement and win.)

SD-6 is constantly in a race to recover these items with another terrorist organization, headed by the mysterious "The Man."

In the course of the season, Syd also discovers that her dead mother (Irina Derevko) was a KGB agent and that she is very much alive.



Her mother only married her father as part of a KGB plot, and then left him and Syd by faking her own death when her mission was over. The season ends with Syd finally coming face to face with "The Man"… who turns out to be her mommy.

Pretty good stuff so far, huh?


SEASON TWO

The search for Rambaldi artifacts remained the central plot point in Season 2. However, the main event of the season (that changed the Alias world forever) was the destruction of SD-6. After accessing security codes on an airborne server, the CIA raids all SD cells in the world simultaneously. In a single hour of TV, SD-6 (the “bad guy” of the entire series) was no more, Sydney was no longer a double agent (meaning she and Vaughn could finally hook up!), and the show became focused on the "Spy Family" of Jack, Sydney, and Irina (what JJ said he wanted the show to be all along – note that it took a season and a half to get there. Compare to Lost, where it took us a year and change to learn about Dharma – which may be what he wanted Lost to be all along!)

Irina has a ton of knowledge on Rambaldi, so the CIA takes her into custody and uses her for information throughout the season. As we learn more about Rambaldi, we find that the artifacts hold mysterious powers (Eternal life? Destructive power?), and that Sydney herself seems to be at the center of some mysterious Rambaldi prophecy written hundreds of years ago.

The season ended with Irina breaking out of prison, and Sydney waking up on the streets of Hong Kong, two years in the future, with no memory of the previous two years.

Still with me?


SEASON THREE

The third season is basically divided in two parts. The first half deals with Sydney's attempts to find out where she'd been for such a long time. The second half focuses once more on the relentless pursuit of the sacred Milo Rambaldi artifacts, which may hold the answers to Sydney's destiny.

When Sydney comes back to the CIA, she is shocked to find out what's happened in those two missing years. Jack is being unlawfully held in prison due to his questionable methods of trying to track down his missing daughter. Irina is in hiding, and her arch-nemesis, the shifty Arvin Sloane (former head of SD-6) has been granted a full pardon by the government for his role in bringing down over a dozen terrorist cells and is the head of a charitable group.

Most shocking of all is that her former lover, agent Vaughn is now happily married to the National Security Council's CIA liaison Lauren Reed.

The new evil this year is the Covenant, a terrorist outfit who (surprise, surprise) is determined to collect the Rambaldi artifacts. The CIA is also attempting to solve the equation of Rambaldi's endgame, so Sydney and her team attempt to capture these same artifacts and figure out their true meaning before the Covenant can get their hands on them (sound similar to Season 1?). We find that Vaughn's wife, Lauren, is also working for the Covenant and is pure evil (also having an affair with a high up Covenant member, Mr. Sark).



The season wraps up with the Rambaldi artifacts leading to Sydney's long lost half-sister, Nadia - an Argentinean spy who was imprisoned in Russia.



She also seems to be critical to the whole Rambaldi puzzle. The season finale ends with Sydney killing Lauren, much to the delight of Sydney/Vaughn fans the world over.

SEASON FOUR

This is the point where Alias went from being unbelievably great to just good. ABC strong-armed the show into being more “single-episode oriented” and tried to attract new viewers by dropping a lot of the Rambaldi and double-crossing agent stuff (which, I’ll admit was getting pretty confusing). To achieve a sort of “reset” of the show, the writers had Sydney quit the CIA and joins a Black Ops unit called "Authorized Personnel Only" (APO) alongside with her partner Dixon (who somehow I haven’t pictured until now! But he’s been her field partner from the start):



along with Jack, Vaughn and Sloane. Basically we were almost back to the way the show started, with different names for all the organizations involved.

Vaughn began researching his father’s death after he found some signs that he might still be alive. In the end, he seems to conclude that his father is dead, but was also obsessed with Rambaldi and may have some connection to Nadia.

We learn of Rambaldi’s desire to have a complete worldwide cleansing through an apocalypse. A Sloane impersonator (who looks freakishly just like him, even though he was played by another actor) assembles stolen Rambaldi artifacts, resulting in a giant red floating ball (Rambaldi’s famed “Mueller Device”) appearing over a Russian city, and all its citizens turning into zombie like people as a result. (Like I said, the fourth season was a little sketchy sometimes).

In the end, the entire Spy Family (with the true Sloane) comes to the city to destroy the device and save the world. They succeed, but in the process Nadia gets “infected” by the device and ends up in a coma.

The big season finale twist this time is that a now engaged Sydney and Vaughn are driving along, when Vaughn tells Sydney his real name is not Michael Vaughn… then they get smashed by a truck.

(Note: something Alias has done, better than any other show on TV – is create unbelievable season finales that leave your jaw on the floor all summer long.)


SEASON FIVE

We learn that Vaughn’s real name is Andre Michaux and his father was a mathematician involved with a top-secret project called "Prophet Five." “Vaughn” learned all this info seven years ago from a woman named Renee Rienne and has been working with her since.



We also learn that Sydney is now pregnant with Vaughn’s baby.

They meet James Lehman, a friend of Vaughn's father. Lehman explains that brilliant scientists and linguists were recruited for Prophet Five in the 70's and were asked to break the code of a 500 year-old document on advanced genetics. After this group succeeded, its members were systematically murdered. As precaution, Vaughn's father changed his identity, as did Lehman. He warns that the murderers are relentless. While talking with Lehman, a new character, Gordon Dean appears and murders both of them.

Two new characters are introduced - Thomas Grace (experienced loose cannon)



and Rachel Gibson (new girl who is just like Sydney, unknowingly worked for Gordon Dean for years thinking he was a good guy. Once she learns the truth, she joins APO).



Sydney and APO are attempting to discover whom Gordon Dean is working for and what their end game is. But meanwhile, Sloane (now back inside APO – will they never learn?!) is being blackmailed by Gordon Dean, who promises he has a cure for Nadia. Sydney and APO attempt to discover whom Gordon Dean is working for and what their end game is.

In the last episode we have seen, Sydney is kidnapped by someone who has an obscure interest in her unborn child – her mother.




Okay. Hopefully that wasn’t absurdedly hard to follow. Really, you owe it to yourself to check out the DVDs of Season 1 and 2 (at least) to appreciate how good this show is. Honestly, week to week it’s better than 95% of action movies I’ve ever seen. It makes me really excited for Mission Impossible III even though I know I should hate it since Tom Cruise is in it. But if JJ could do this much with Alias on a TV budget, I can’t imagine what he can do with a big movie budget…

But I digress. With that behind us, here are the big questions I think we, as viewers, not only need but deserve after all these years (note: if you have never seen Alias, I might lose you here. It would be like never seeing Lost and then reading my Blog – your mind just might explode):

RAMBALDI.

The biggest question of all. The question that has been bouncing around my head for the better part of the past five years. Like I said, it would be like Lost ending without explaining the purpose of the Island or who the Others really are. You just can’t do it. Unless you want me rioting outside your house the next morning.

Here’s the tricky thing – we’ve seen the Rambaldi hint at three separate, very different things over the years:

1. Rambaldi foreseeing Sydney / Nadia / Irina somehow being involved in an apocalypse-type battle that might bring about the end of the world.
2. Rambaldi learning the key to eternal life, and hiding the secrets through all his artifacts.
3. Rambaldi creating a weapon of unbelievable destruction that could be used to “cleanse” the world.

Of the three, I think the first two are the most intriguing. I’ve just seen the “big weapon that will destroy the world” storyline done a few times too many to make it seem important enough to be the underlying purpose of the entire series. Rule it out.

However, one of the second two seem more likely if you look at it logically. Why would you hide clues and pieces of the puzzle all over the world if your purpose was to warn people about the danger of Sydney / Nadia / Irina? Wouldn’t you want to have the information easily accessible to as many people as possible? I know I would. Rule it out.

Which leaves us with number two – eternal life. In all honesty, when I first heard about Rambaldi in Season 1, this is what I was hoping for. It really seems like the only “mystery” that is important enough to have hidden all the pieces of the puzzle in the way he did.

If I was writing the show, I’d have a big finale where Sydney finally meets Rambaldi. That’s right. Remember that clock maker a few seasons back who seemed to be as old as Rambaldi? If he was alive (until getting strewn with bullets), I’m thinking Rambaldi is alive as well. Also - clearly Rambaldi has something against Sydney if he has prophecies about her bringing about the end of the world. But what if these are all lies?

Let’s hypothesize that Rambaldi figures out a way to live forever, but he’s not “invincible”. Let’s say he also has the power to somehow see into the future. He could have foreseen that Sydney would be the one to finally kill him (perhaps accidentally?), and therefore he makes up numerous fake prophecies about her in hopes that it will cause someone else to kill her before she can kill him.

That would be pretty cool and tie things together nicely, don’t you think?

The one thing that worries me is that in a recent interview with JJ Abrams, he mentions that “originally we wanted to get much deeper into the Rambaldi stuff with the finale, but ABC was against it. They were always against the Rambaldi stuff.” Blast you ABC. If you even rob me of a Rambaldi-filled finale, I will never forgive you…


VAUGHN.

The prominent storyline this season. Is he alive? Is he dead? Was he a double-agent all along? Is he good? Is he evil? The writers completely turned this character on his head in the first episode of the season, then killed him off before we could get any real answers.

It’s pretty clear that whoever he is, he loves Sydney. However, would Sydney love him back if she found out he was working for the bad guys all along?

The story looks to be leading towards a “Vaughn is following in his father’s footsteps” storyline, with him working for Prophet 5 (which sure sounds close to a group of Rambaldi followers, doesn’t it?), faking his death as his “extraction” from the CIA, and now working behind the scenes to unravel the mystery.

His father also seems to have some connection to Nadia (and presumably then to Sydney). Again, if I was writing the show, I’d have it all tie together with Vaughn’s dad being obsessed with Rambaldi, saving Nadia for the purpose of having her murder Sydney some day (remember the prophecy about one sister killing the other?). But when this all falls apart, Vaughn is called on to eliminate Sydney. He has to choose between his love and his “faith” in Rambaldi. That would be pretty intense!

(Note the similarities between Jack and Irina and Sydney and Vaughn!)

BABY.

Remember a few seasons back when Sydney was abducted and then had a scar around her hip? I said “I wonder if they were stealing her eggs to make a Rambaldi baby someday”. Well, it doesn’t look like that was the case, but I think the whole baby storyline would be way cooler if it was. Is the baby just a regular baby? Or does it somehow fit into the prophecies? Irina seems to have a keen interest in it, and we all know she can’t be trusted.

ALLEGIENCES.

So let me see if I can get this straight. Sloane went from being bad (SD-6) to good (CIA) to bad (stealing Rambaldi artifacts) to good (APO) to bad (helping Gordon Dean). So what is it? This is probably a case of someone not being truly good or truly evil – but has everything he’s done been driven by his obsession with Rambaldi, or is it really for love of his daughter (Nadia) or Sydney? And what’s up with him and Jack? They still seem to have some secrets they’re not telling everyone. Is Jack on the up and up? And what about Irina? She’s the biggest wild card of them all. Who is she working for? Has she been using Sydney all along, or is she really a good mother who cares about her children?

I suppose it’s fitting on a show entitled “Alias” that there are so many questions about the true identity and allegiances of so many characters, but some firm answers would be nice.




So that’s all for my Alias recap and looking towards the future. In the end, even though Alias has had its ups and downs, I’m sad to see it go. It’s one of a handful of shows that I would call truly “great”, and that I absolutely loved. I’m glad it has a chance to go out on top, knowing that it only has a few episodes left to get their story told (as opposed to some shows which get blindsided by their cancellation, leaving storylines hanging – I’m talking about you, “Alf”!)

I’ll try and include some Alias talk on the Blog each week in addition to my Lost posts. The show deserves it.

"S.O.S." Analysis

Brian’s Official Review: Decent setup episode. Probably the only Rose-Bernard flashback we’ll see, since they pretty much told their story from start to finish, and we know why their motives are going to be “stay on the Island” from now on. The reappearance of Michael felt a bit too similar to Claire’s reappearance, but should finally kick the show into gear. Someone mentioned that the last few episodes of this season are more “action-oriented” than any we’ve seen so far. If that’s the case, this should be the last “slow” episode of the year.

But as always on Lost, regardless of how little actually happened, there was still plenty to discuss…

Others!

Check out the picture. There are lots of them!



No, not “Others” in the traditional sense of “non-Survivors of Flight 815”, but in terms of “the other 20ish Survivors of Flight 815 who we NEVER SEE OR HEAR FROM”. Last season, I mentioned how I thought it would be cool to see some of these people come to the foreground this year, (theoretically providing new flashbacks, new interactions, and replacing “Front Line” Survivors who I assumed would be dying).

But that hasn’t been the case. Instead we got the Tailers to provide fresh faces and stories to the existing cast. While I was happy to see at least some reference to them being on the Island this week, I’ve come to accept that they’re just going to be bodies for the remainder of the show’s life. Actually, if this “war” with the Others ever happens, who wants to bet that these guys are going to be the first to die, while our Front Line Survivors somehow all survive?

(It’s just like when Jack Bauer goes on a mission with two random CTU agents… we all know only Jack is coming out alive.)



Fools.

One of the episode’s strongest themes was that of “Fools and Fool’s Errands.” Rose referred to Bernard as being a fool, and his mission to get her cured was a fool’s errand (meaning a fruitless or pointless mission). You could easily apply this theme to a few other activities happening on the Island, namely Locke entering the Numbers in the Hatch.

After his talk with Rose, Locke seems to come the decision that he needs to stop entering the Numbers, another “fool’s errand”. It’s interesting that after Jack, Michael, and most of the other Survivors tried to convince him not to enter them – and even after HGI told him they do nothing, he still wasn’t convinced. But when Rose talks to him, he changes his ways. Why?



Magic.

Locke has finally found someone else on the Island who shares his “love” for it, who thinks it’s a beautiful place, because Rose has also been “healed by it”. Sharing this common bond, Locke seems to have found some sort of peace with himself, knowing that he doesn’t need to enter the Numbers to have a “purpose” on the Island. Instead, just being there and getting a new chance for life seem to be enough. Good enough for Rose, good enough for Locke.

So what’s the key to the magic healing power of the Island? Do the Others have magic powers? Not likely. More and more, it’s looking like it’s simply “fun with magnets.”



Bernard was trying to heal Rose by taking her to Uluru – the healing, spiritual place of the Aboriginal people of Australia. It’s a sacred place for them religiously. Scientifically, this place has unique magnetic properties due to the enormous raised piece of earth (that actually is a huge long rock that descends deep into the Earth – which I guess gives you weird magnetic properties?).

It’s interesting that Issac (the healer) said that he couldn’t help her. More specifically, he said that “this place” couldn’t help her, as if she could still be cured by magnetic powers… but not this one.

We’ve already seen that there is some sort of powerful magnet inside the Swan Hatch that is sealed off, yet still strong enough to attract a key hanging from Jack’s neck.

As Rachel brought up in the Comments section, there seems to be some limitation to the power of the magnet. It gave Locke his ability to walk, it cured Rose’s cancer, it made Jin fertile (maybe – still not sold on this one) – but it didn’t cure Boone when he fell in Eko’s plane, Shannon when she was shot, or the Warden’s injuries.

I guess it makes sense. I’m no doctor (or am I, beth?!) but you could imagine that the radiation / magnetism of the Island could break up Rose’s cancerous cells, wake up Jin’s swimmers, and jostle Locke’s spinal electrons back into place – but it couldn’t heal a hole in Shannon or broken leg on Boone.

One thing that doesn’t make sense is Locke’s apparent healing ability. Remember last year when a piece of shrapnel shot into his leg, and he didn’t feel it? Later in the episode, he touched the fire with his leg to a similar non-result. But when the Blast Doors fell on him, he clearly felt the pain. What’s the difference between the two? Were his leg nerves damaged in his accident, causing him to feel no pain at first – but now are healing so he can feel again? Or is it just sloppy writing?



Evil.

If we weren’t sure before, we really should be now. HGI is pure, unadulterated EVIL. I mean, look at this picture!



But again, here’s the big question:

What’s his goal?

If his goal is to keep the Survivors entering the Numbers and continuing the experiment, why convince the biggest Numbers believer that entering them does nothing? Nope.

If his goal is to stop the Survivors from entering the Numbers, he certainly helped his cause, and we should believe him when he says he actually didn’t enter the Numbers when Locke when stuck under the Blast Doors. But then why the evil smile? Why make the comments about “if I were an Other, I would give Ana-Lucia a fake map and lead her into a trap.” Maybe.

If his goal is to create havoc, he’s certainly doing it. Bingo. Here’s my newest take:

As I’ve said before, the Others are outnumbered. The Others are a bit afraid of our Survivors. The only advantage they hold over the Survivors is knowledge of the Island, the experiments, and what’s going on. Knowledge is power. HGI was sent to cause some havoc, create some rifts among our Survivors, and do a little “divide and conquer”… and he’s doing just that. He intentionally let himself get caught in CFL’s net, has already created tension between Jack and Locke, and now is twisting the knife a bit more with the Numbers.

This face is the face of evil happiness, knowing that your plan has succeeded.

So now what? Does he stick around to cause more ruckus, or plan his escape?

Trap.

Speaking of CFL, how creepy was her trap that Jack and Kate got caught in?



Seemingly, this is a trap that was set long ago, using a baby doll as bait to try and “catch” Alex and get her back once she was stolen by the Others. But this brings up the question of - Why wouldn’t Alex come voluntarily back?

If we are to assume she was somehow drugged / brainwashed (a la Claire… and Michael – but more on that later), it would make sense.

But the girl we saw help free Claire from the Medical Hatch was clearly working against the Dharmites. Does that mean they were no longer brainwashing / drugging her? Or did she become wise to their methods and somehow outsmart them to gain her mental freedom again?
Perhaps this is the distinction between the By the Book Dharmites and the Rebel Dharmites – the Rebel Dharmites have had their eyes opened by ceasing to take the 4815162342 medicine (that we saw with Desmond and again in the Medical Hatch). This furthers the argument that the Rebel Dharmites are the ones who made the Blast Door drawing, which states “The disease worsens with the treatment. The remedy is worse than the disease.”

It’s all coming together.


Kiss the Girl.



Seriously, that was hot. It’s curious that the writers are teasing Kate and Jack as a couple again. But what are their chances of lasting? Let’s compare some other TV couples that seemed destined to be:

• Dawson and Joey: didn’t end up together
• Corey and Topanga: ended up together
• Kevin and Winnie: didn’t end up together
• Ross and Rachel: ended up together
• Buffy and Angel: didn’t end up together
• Sydney and Vaughn: to be determined

So the track record is spotty at best. It’s a common TV writer trick to constantly break up and make up your most popular couples because it makes for good TV. So are jerk TV writers just jerking us around? Actually in this case, it makes sense from a storytelling point of view. Let’s psycho-analyze how the Jack/Kate romance is coming up again:

During “What Kate Did”, Kate symbolically chose Sawyer, giving in to her “dark side”. Things seemed pretty clear cut. We would have Kate/Sawyer and Ana-Lucia/Jack. But then things changed. As a response to Kate being all girly with him (cutting his hair, making him miss football games, etc.), Sawyer got tough (conning everyone out of the guns). Then Jack started standing up to people (Locke, Sawyer), and then symbolically beat Sawyer in a game of Poker (a man’s game). Kate, as an observer to all these events, suddenly sees Jack as the up-and-comer tough guy among the Survivors, and Sawyer as being a loner and jerk.

Therefore, she’s suddenly thinking Jack might be the horse to bet on. He’s got the dreamy leadership quality, a touch of “tough guy”, standing up to other people, and he probably is a more stable person to attach yourself to when on a crazy deserted Island.

(There are also those pesky rumors about Michelle Rodriguez being booted off the show she’s apparently quite the trouble maker in Hawaii. We can’t leave our dramatic lead without some sort of love interest!)

Creepy.

Did the Isaac of Uluru scene strike anyone else as a bit odd?

To me, this isn’t the face of “I can’t help you, sorry”, but “I can see what’s going to happen to you and it freaks the hell out of me.”

It just really reminded me of Claire’s visit to the psychic where he was like “You must raise the child” and then put her on the doomed Flight 815.

So either psychics in Australia are for real, and can see the future (but then why wouldn’t he warn Rose about 815 going down?), or there’s something innately bad / scary / different about the overall aura of both Claire and Rose (and possibly all of our Survivors) that made the psychics freak out.

Since the show began, I’ve had the feeling that everyone on the Island was somehow “hand picked” to be there – but what? Are they “chosen ones” that were meant to end up on that Island? It’s an intriguing thought, one I’ve had since the show began. I still have nothing even close to semi-scientific means (as everything on the show will allegedly be explained by) of putting a logical theory together, but this is another small action that just strengthens my feeling that there is something that identified our Survivors out of everyone else in the world, something that put them on that plane and brought them to the Island – on purpose.



Rolla on the River.

If you’re anything like me, as soon as you saw jotting down his recollection of the Blast Door image, the first thing you thought was “What was he writing on?! It must be a clue!”

Well, he was writing on a page of the 1833 poem “Rolla”, by French poet Alfred de Musset. Needless to say, it’s a pretty heavy read. But readers in France, Quebec, or Djibouti, have a read!

http://www.poesies.net/mussetpoesiesnouvelles.txt

Ambitious but non French-speaking readers can peruse the text in English here:

http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://membres.lycos.fr/jccau/poesie/musset/txt_mus2.htm&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Soyez%2Bles%2Bbienvenus,%2Benfants%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D

Lazy Americans who don’t appreciate poetry, here’s a one sentence summary:

Rolla is one of the strongest and most depressing of Alfred de Musset’s works; the skeptic regrets the faith he has lost the power to regain, and realizes in lurid flashes the desolate emptiness of his own heart.

Whoa. Massive symbolism there! Locke is now no longer a “Man of Faith”, but a skeptic! He said himself, “I’m done with entering the Numbers”. But this makes it sound like Locke is sad about this new development, when in the episode he seemed happy, upbeat, and in a way freed from the Numbers due to his skepticism. But as I’ve mentioned before, this was his purpose on the Island, and without it, he would feel a certain “emptiness in his own heart”. Locke is going to have to find some other “goal” to pass his time on the Island, unless he’s content following Rose’s path of “just being happy to be there, healthy again.”

(For those of you keeping track at home, because of Lost I’ve now learned about French poets, Latin, Hieroglyphics, Greek mythology, the Aboriginal people of Australia, and the history of the phrase “S.O.S.” over the past month. Who says that watching TV rots your brain?)



Trusted.

Lastly we come to our boy Mikey. Time for a little reader participation…

So did the Others agree to Jack’s proposed trade? Giving them Michael and hoping they’ll get HGI in exchange? Not bloody likely.

Assuming he’s a Rebel Dharmite, HGI holds no major importance to the rest of the Others. You also get the impression that HGI could bust out of there at any moment either by overpowering or outsmarting our Survivors.

So where did Michael come from? Another product of Alex freeing a prisoner? I mean, he showed up just like Claire did. But I’m guessing that the writers won’t rehash that storyline.

Did he break out himself? I don’t think so. At least not if he’s the Michael that we know and love. There is no way he would have left without Walt. Remember the blind irrational passion in his eyes when he swiped a gun and left the Hatch to find Walt? (Whatever happened to that gun anyways?) He would have sooner died than leave Walt behind. Also – if it’s that easy to break away from them, wouldn’t Walt have done so a long time ago?

So although he comes back and confirms one of my longest running theories this season: “There aren’t that many of them, and they’re not armed – we can take them!”, I don’t think he can be trusted.

That’s right, I smell a trap.

It’s a little too neat and clean that he comes back and stirs up everyone to go march in the Jungle and attempt to overtake the Others by sheer force. The Others are too crafty, and probably realize that Michael (who obviously isn’t “good”, or he would have been taken long ago) has no value to them other than being someone who can bait everyone else into walking into a trap.

So we have two options here:

1. Michael is drugged / hypnotized / whatever the Others do to you, and isn’t intentionally leading them into a trap.
2. Michael went into the Jungle, got slapped around a bit by the Others, tortured, and told “You won’t get Walt back unless you bring everyone else to us.”

There’s probably an option 3 I don’t want to get into involving this not being the real Michael, similar to how Locke changed when he first met the Monster in Season 1, but I think one of the other two are far more likely. Either way, it serves as an impetus to FINALLY get the confrontation between the Others and our Survivors started – making me extremely excited for the rest of the season.

What do we think?

(PS - Happy Easter, everyone)