TV To Be Thankful For

I remember a few years back when critics began lamenting the death of TV. It was overrun with cheesy cookie cutter sitcoms and reality TV shows, and there was very little fresh, creative TV aside from a few programs on HBO.

However, things have changed. Over the past two years, network TV has finally realized (thanks to ever-plummeting ratings) that they need to break the mold – get some new ideas, and break the mold.

If you remember before the fall TV season started, I wrote a Fall TV Preview, listing the shows that I was excited about, shows that I intended to watch. But like every year, shows that looked promising turned out to be pretty mediocre, and shows that weren’t even on my radar became new obsessions. Back in September, I estimated there would be 15 shows I would be watching and loving. In reality, right now, there are only five shows I consider “must see”.

In honor of Thanksgiving, here are the five reasons to be thankful for the state of television today.

5. Lost.



Obviously. I write volumes and volumes about this show every week. Admittedly, this season has been pretty uneven. The first few episodes this season were fantastic – introducing the Dharma Initiative, the Hanso Foundation, the Tailers, Desmond, etc. – but since then it’s kinda been in a rut. Yes, Shannon died. Yes, we saw our first true glimpses of the Others… but at this point, the show needs to get back into the Hatch, start finding out about Dharma, and exploring this Island.

You almost get the feeling like the writers could tell the story they want to tell in about 10 episodes, but they need to stretch it into 22. Thus, we have episodes like the Sun flashback, the Hurley flashback, etc. – which, while they are nice episodes, well made, and well meaning – are really throwaway episodes that the average viewer could skip and still miss nothing critical to what’s happening on the Island.

I’m hopeful for the future. Now that they’ve tied up the loose ends of how the Tailers spent their first 48 days on the Island, got the “big death” out of the way, there’s nowhere to go but forward with the story.

In a nutshell, it’s beautifully shot, well acted, smart, interesting, and different. It’s getting huge ratings when in reality it should be a cult-show. Definitely one of the top five shows on TV.


4. The Office.



Quirky. Subtle. Hilarious. If you work in an office full of cubicles and strange co-workers, this show is for you.

This is the perfect example of a show being the opposite of standard “sitcoms” that you see on CBS Monday Night. There’s no laugh track. The show doesn’t center around some “married couple who get in fights and their misbehaving kids and weird neighbors.” There is no background music, so awkward silence abound. It’s told in a single roaming camera shot / confessional style (similar to Arrested Development, RIP) that makes the show feels unlike anything else on TV.

The cast is phenomenal. Steve Carell is fantastic as clueless-boss-who-wants-to-be-everyone’s-friend Michael Scott. Rainn Wilson is probably the most entertaining character on TV as Dwight Schrute. The two “normal people” in the office, Pam and Jim, give us a gateway to the lunacy. Each character on the show has the potential to deliver a great comedic one-liner or just make an expression that makes you laugh out loud.Some episodes are better than others, but there’s usually at least one or two scenes that are great. When the show goes out on an edge, such as their Diversity and Sexual Harassment episodes, it’s as politically incorrect and hilarious as TV comes.

3. My Name is Earl.



The most feel good show on TV. As Will Riley puts it, “this show had the best 15 minute setup in the history of TV”. A white trash con-man wins the lottery and learns of kharma from the prophet Carson Daly. How can you go wrong with that setup?! Each week centers on him righting some wrong that he has committed in his life, yet there is always a twist, a lesson, and some laughs.

Jason Lee deserves Emmy consideration for the way he has embodied the character of Earl, to the degree that Johnny Depp seems to “become” each character he plays, Lee is Earl.

The show doesn’t always make you laugh out loud, but it does make you smile and feel good about life. It’s different – and that’s a good thing.

2. Grey’s Anatomy.



This show came out of nowhere to become my new obsession. I had caught bits and pieces of this show last year after Desperate Housewives, but never really gave it my full attention. However, I’d heard some good buzz about the show and ended up sitting down and watching a heartbreaking episode a few weeks back (if you watch, the one where the two people had the pole going through them). I was hooked. Since that point, I’ve downloaded the entire first season, devoured them, and watched each episode this season.

Why didn’t I watch it initially? Call it fear of this being another medical-type show that were all the rage in the early 90’s. But it’s not. Yes, there is medicine on the show, but it’s closer to “Sex and the City” than “ER”.

Ellen Pompeo plays Meredith Grey with a heartfelt honesty that I can’t really compare to any other actress on TV. When she hurts, we hurt. When she’s happy, we’re happy. The cast is young and interesting, each a multi-layered individual rather than a stereotypical character. The narrative is unbelievably strong (voiced by Pompeo), book ending the action of the hospital with a an overall theme for each episode.

I can’t think of any other show on TV that can consistently make you want to laugh, cry, and learn a lesson each episode.

1. Prison Break.



A show that started as a filler for Fox until 24 comes back to the schedule in January turned out to be the best show of the Fall. It’s got all the action of the aforementioned 24, but it’s in a completely fresh setting, making it totally different. Putting the show inside a prison gives it an Oz meets the Sopranos feel. But the nonstop action is intense. I can’t think of any other show (including 24) that gets my heart beating and honestly makes me worry about the characters as Prison Break does. When Michael Scofield is secretly climbing through the jail walls as a guard approaches his cell, I sit on the edge of my seat.

Part of this is due to the fact that we don’t know the rules of the show yet. Could Michael die? Where is this series really going? Will he end up in jail? Will they break free? Will it be like “The Fugitive” or like “Law and Order” once they escape?

Unlike most shows on TV, the viewer really gets the feeling like the first season was entirely mapped out from the start, with bits and pieces of how these prisoners will break out of prison unfolding with each passing episode. I truly hope the show keeps its intensity and action once it goes outside the prison walls.



(Note: Scrubs and 24, cruely put on hiatus until early 2006, barring any sort of trainwreck seasons, will almost surely make this list by the end of the Spring.)

Lost - "Collision"

(It's short but sweet for certain this week, loyal readers. Since most of my comments about last week's episode reside two posts below - and there's the sweet interview with the Executive Producers one post down - I don't really have too much to say at this point. Happy Thanksgiving. Be thankful for stuff.)

Episode Title: "Collision"

Brian's Deeper Meaning Guess: There are a few obvious "collisions" coming up this week.

After last week's "all flashback" episode, we're back up to speed, picking up the storyline right after Ana shot Shannon. Based on the rage in Sayid's eyes, and the previews for this week, Collision #1 is Sayid and Ana-Lucia.

But don't be fooled by these previews. There is absolutely no way that Ana is slicing and dicing a tied up Sayid, as we see in the clip. I would bet good money that she's cutting him free, after finally trusting that he won't hurt her. However, this should setup an interesting group dynamic from here on out. Similar to Jack vs. Sawyer, or the old Jin vs. Michael rivalry, it creates tension among our castaways and forces people to start picking sides.

The far greater collision is going to be Tailers vs. Originals. There is pretty much no way these two groups are going to be all lovey dovey initially. First there's the whole "Shannon was killed by the Tailers" thing. But more importantly, there's the whole "We've been picked off, stolen, and murdered by the Others" chip on the Tailers shoulders, while the Originals have been living a pretty cushiony lifestyle on a gorgeous beach with little terror (aside from a monster here or there). This should create some more tension between the two groups as jealous erupts and they start judging each other.

Lastly, this is an Ana-Lucia flashback episode. Based on everything we've seen about her so far (able to handle a gun, natural leader, knows CPR) I think she was a cop in her previous life. Look for some collision (a car accident or something - given the amount of car accidents we've seen on this show, I wouldn't be surprised!) that drastically changes her life... possibly sending her to Australia, and thus puts her on the plane.

TV Guide Description: "Violence erupts when Ana Lucia and her group discover the other castaways."

TV Guide Breakdown: Violence erupting? This seems to be taking it a bit far. Probably the Ana-Lucia / Sayid fighting? I really can't see Jack / Locke / Eko / Libby / Michael / Almost anyone else allowing anarchy to break out. I mean, these people all shared a similar experience. They've got to understand they're all in this together, and their best hope is to work together.

I just pray they talk to each other, share stories, and start figuring some stuff out!

Comment away!

Interview with Lost's Executive Producers!

(This is a good read. I'll probably throw my thoughts in the Comments section below the post. You should do the same.)

First off, I have a bone to pick with you, Damon. Last July, I asked you if a female character was getting killed this season on Lost, and you said — and I quote: "I think it would be fairly silly for us to kill a woman — there are only three or four of them on the show. And they're all really hot." So, I guess my question is, how can I ever trust you again?

Damon Lindelof: I never said we weren't going to kill a woman. I said it would be silly. And you know, Carlton and I are pretty silly guys. You should see the hat that he's wearing right now.
Carlton Cuse: That's all I'm wearing.
Damon: And also a sock, but that's another story.


Did it bug you that Maggie Grace's people leaked that tidbit about her possibly joining the cast of X-Men 3 over the summer? It was a pretty major tip-off that she might be leaving the show.

Carlton: There's no incentive for them to preserve the creative sanctity of Lost. You have an agency full of people whose job it is to get Maggie Grace other work. And how could we begrudge her that? We can't prevent her from going out and earning a livelihood, you know?


There's the perception that Maggie had to turn down X-Men 3 because of Lost.

Carlton: I don't think that was the circumstance. We would have been accommodating had she been offered that job.
Damon: Carlton and I would have bent over backwards to see if there was a way to make it work.


Why was Shannon marked for death?

Damon: It was by no means a result of Maggie's abilities as an actress, which, we felt were gaining ground every time we saw her on the screen. But Shannon is a 22- or 23-year-old character, and the flashback stories and limitations in terms of her life experience…. The younger the character is on the show, the more limited you are in terms of stories you can tell. So, before we started running Shannon into the ground and doing the same stories over and over again, it felt like it was a very natural time to kill [her] off. And the idea that was appealing to us, and certainly to Maggie, was that we would finally show Shannon in this different light. Make her incredibly sympathetic and then she would die.


Will Shannon be back, like, say, in one of Jack's flashbacks?

Carlton: It's always possible she could pop up in someone's backstory. But she is definitely dead. When a character dies on the island, they stay dead.


Are you concerned that Ana-Lucia is beyond redemption? I can't tell you how many e-mails I got from readers asking, "When is that bitch going to die?!" Actually, I can tell you: 124.

Carlton: At the beginning of last season, people didn't like Josh Holloway's character either. And by the end of the season, he was one of the most-liked characters on the show. It'll be really interesting to see, as we tell more about Ana-Lucia, whether that changes the audience's perception of her. We think it will.
Damon: In the same moment that we decided Shannon would die, [we also decided that] Ana-Lucia would be responsible for that death. It would be the first time one castaway was responsible for killing another, and it would give so much inherent conflict and trauma [heading to] the merge. We're walking a very tenuous tightrope with her, but we feel that over the course of the next two episodes the audience will hopefully get a better understanding for that character and what she's been through.


Can you confirm that Shannon was, in fact, shot? Fans have been speculating that she looked like she had a stab wound.

Carlton: She was shot.
Damon: People are getting a little too…


They're reaching a little too much?

Carlton: They totally are. And she did not have a Dharma Initiative stamp on her.


Let's talk about Malcolm David Kelley and Walt. Why was his role reduced this season? Were you concerned about him aging faster than the time line on the show?

Carlton: That's a legitimate issue. We've only gone 50 days on the island, and he's a kid in puberty. But Walt's disappearance and, ultimately, Michael's efforts to reunite with him were part of a grander plan. There are also financial considerations. Since Walt wasn't going to be around for a lot of episodes, we had to make an arrangement to have his role be a more reduced role.


Whether you use him once or twice a year or every week, the aging thing will still be an issue, no? Might you recast?

Damon: To answer that question is sort of to reveal what the plan is for Walt, and there is a plan. I always feel like recasting is the nuclear option. You do not do it unless it is absolutely, 100 percent necessary. But obviously, we have a story that we want to tell about Walt and about Michael and Walt.


Last week Shannon and Sayid gave us our first big Lost sex scene….

Carlton: It was the second big sex scene. Boone and Shannon had sex together [last season]. So, if you have sex on the show, you're pretty much going to end up dead.


So, who's having sex next?

Carlton: (Laughs) As we move into the middle run of episodes, we're definitely emphasizing the Jack-Kate-Sawyer romantic triangle. The level of sexual tension between those three characters is definitely being ramped up.


How will Ana-Lucia figure into it?

Damon: As the respective leaders of their respective units, Ana-Lucia and Jack have a great deal in common with each other, and that's definitely something we're going to be exploring. But [the fact that] Ana-Lucia inadvertently murdered one of the members of the tribe doesn't exactly [lend itself] to candlelight dinners and walks on the beach. She is a woman; she will have romantic entanglements. But I think the one that will begin to emerge over the season will be the one that you least expect.


What about Charlie and Claire?

Carlton: We're definitely going to be paying attention to their relationship, but it's not going to turn in ways the audience expects.


Will we get any clarification about the numbers this season?

Damon: Carlton might want to punch me for actually going on record and saying this, but I think that that question will never, ever be answered. I couldn't possibly imagine [how we would answer that question]. We will see more ramifications of the numbers and more usage of the numbers, but it boggles my mind when people ask me, "What do the numbers mean?"


Will we find out why Ethan abducted Claire?

Damon: Yes.
Carlton: You'll learn more about it this season.


Will Claire get some of her memory back?

Damon: The loss of her memory happened so long ago that it requires a sort of deft touch in order to reintroduce the concept. Once we start assuming that everybody is intimately familiar with everything that has ever happened on the island, I think the show risks becoming slightly confused. But all of that stuff is in play. It's just a matter of when and how we reactivate it.


Are you still planning to reveal why the plane crashed this season?

Carlton: Yes.


Are you saving that little doozy for the finale?

Carlton: We're saving it until later. We consider that on the ground of fairly major revelations.
Damon: We don't want to stick that one in the middle of March.


ABC billed last week's episode as the one "everyone will be talking about." What'll be the next one "everyone will be talking about"?

Carlton: Ironically, it's the next episode [airing tonight]. We think for us, it's even more of a water-cooler episode than the death episode. This is really a very special episode in that it's kind of a concept episode. It deviates from the form and style of our other episodes.


On Nov. 30 we'll finally learn what Kate's precrash crime was that landed her in so much hot water. Any other big flashback revelations this season?

Damon: In the next string of episodes, one of the really compelling backstory elements is what happened to Jack's marriage. We think Julie Bowen is amazing and she and Matthew Fox are so great in scenes together, and I think the audience is really curious as to what went wrong there. Carlton: And you should pay attention to Mr. Eko's stick.


Seriously?

Carlton: Yeah.
Damon: Keep your eyes on Mr. Eko's stick.
Carlton: That stick is an important ongoing clue.


Will we learn more about Monster this season?

Carlton: Definitely.
Damon: Absolutely.


Has Disney approached you about doing a Lost feature film?

Carlton: No.


And if they did, what would your response be?

Damon: I would punch them as hard as I could. We couldn't even begin to wrap our brains around how we would produce a feature film. Obviously, the production team in Hawaii is amazing, but the amount of time [it would require] to do a TV show and a feature on top of each other… I think it's safe to say it would be impossible.


Last question: Will there be another death this season?

Carlton: (Laughs) You're very good, Michael, but we can't say.

"The Other 48 Days" Thoughts

Mini-Review:

In a word: choppy.

I understand that cramming 48 days worth of action into a forty-seven minute episode (extended from the typical 42!) is pretty difficult, but I think the episode felt rushed.. like a Cliff's Notes version of the story. Granted, this was needed - because as viewers, we're anxious to see what's going on RIGHT NOW, but it would have been nice to see a full ninety minute episode dedicated to telling the tale of the Tailers (I'm so clever).

However, it was very information heavy, particularly about the nature of the mysterious Others, and now we're al up to speed and ready for the storyline to move on!

Here are seven thoughts that will occupy my brain for the next week:

1. Mr. Eko. Okay, so he wasn't a Nigerian who has been on the Island for some time. But how did he know to kill the Others that came the first night? Did he simply defend himself? Or did he know they were evil? He "fasted" from talking for 40 days after killing them, as pennance, then took interest in the Bible found in the Arrow Hatch. Who is this guy?! I want an Eko flashback!!!

2. Good. When Goodwin (hilarious pun, Lost writers) said that he was only taking the "good" ones, does that refer to good as in "holy" or good as in "useful"? Aren't there any Original Survivors that are "good", and worth stealing? Or is the "Security System" simply protecting them from the "Others".

3. Groups. I still think there's multiple groups on this Island that are at odds with each other. Scientists (Pirates who stole Walt), Others (Savages who escaped experiments), and random other people brought there (CFL, Desmond). Goodwin feels like a Scientist to me. Ethan feels like an Other. I still think there's something weird about Nathan. Maybe he was an Other too and Goodwin killed him out of fear he would talk and blow his cover?

4. Yin and Yang. To play on the light / dark, good / evil, yin / yang theme of the show, think about these eerily similarities between the Tailers and Originals:

- Locke and Eko - both Men of Faith, one light, one dark, their names are similar when you spell one backwards
- Kate vs. Ana-Lucia - cop vs. criminal, light vs. dark
- Jack and Libby - both doctory, male and female
- Cindy and the Pilot - both told them about being off course, then both gone
- Bernard and Rose - obviously
- Goodwin and Ethan - Others

5. The Glass Eye . What Dharma Initiative do you think would involve a glass eye and Bible (Arrow)?
- Life Extension Project?
- Electromagnetic Research (Swan)
- Extraterrestial Intelligence?
- Mathematical Forecasting?
- Cryogenics Development?
- Juxtapositional Eugenics?
- Remote Viewing Training?

6. Death. Didn't it seem like Others die really easily? You just hit them on the head with a rock. But what about Ethan? He was pretty badass. Weird. (Credit: Will Riley)

7. Teddy Bear. Are the stolen kids really better off? We saw the Teddy Bear three weeks back, which means one of two things:

- When the Others steal the kids, they do something to them that makes them grow up very quickly. There still seems to be something up with time on this island - people aging very quickly (Adam and Eve in the Caves) or thinking time is passing too slowly (CFL).
- The Others are carrying the Teddy Bear as a freaky souvenier of their exploits.


Ready? Set? Discuss!

Lost - "The Other 48 Days"

(This is a weird one for the ol’ Blog – typically, I have all sorts of stuff to predict about the forthcoming episode, but this week – we all know what’s going to generally happen and how it’s going to end. What will be interesting is the details, and how those details shed light on what’s really happening on the Island. This is a fancy way of saying, the post is going to be a little shorter than usual, because I don’t have as much material.)

Episode Title: “The Other 48 Days”

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: Maybe the most straight forward episode title of Lost ever? This episode clearly deals with how the Tailers spent their first 48 days on the Island. Given that typically, one episode equals two or three days on the Island, it’s understandable that this episode is a “special extended” one, although per my DVR, it’s only five minutes longer than usual.

The episode should be quite intriguing though. Clearly, the Tailers have had a much rougher go than our Original Survivors, and this episode should show that. From the previews, people (especially children) seem to get ripped away from the Tailers, others are killed, and the remaining seem pretty shaken up by the whole experience.

However, could there be a little play on words in the title as well? The Other 48 Days, as in, 48 days filled with the Others? I think so, you clever Lost-title-creators!


TV Guide Description: The harrowing first 48 days in the lives of the tail section survivors are revealed.

TV Guide Breakdown: Shortest TV Guide Description Ever. We’re going to watch the 23 (?) survivors from the Tail section deal with some serious drama after the crash. They’re going to get picked off, beat up, and left as the shaky, distrusting Tailers we saw beat up and take hostage Jin / Michael / Sawyer at the end of “Adrift”. They’re obviously not very trusting of others… and for good reason, I’d wager.

Should be a pretty intense episode.


Previously on Lost…

Sayid and Shannon get down and dirty (literally – they’re on an Island, people). Ghost Walt reappears to Shannon and says “They’re coming, and they’re close”, except he’s talking backwards so she doesn’t understand. After a quick visit to Boone’s grave, she lets Vincent lead her off into the Jungle with the command “Find Walt!” Sayid follows.

Meanwhile, the Tailers make a B-line through the Jungle in hopes of reaching the Survivors campsite before Sawyer dies. He basically goes into a coma, and has to be carried by the Tailers, Michael, and Jin on the journey. Along the way, Cindy (one of the Tailers) suddenly disappears, and we begin to hear whispers.

It pours down rain, Sayid proves he has no concept of love by professing it to Shannon, who he really just met, then both he and Shannon see Ghost Walt telling them to “Shhhh!” Shannon proves she has no concept of how to keep quiet and goes running in the Jungle after Ghost Walt.
Gunshots rang out like a bell, we find that Ana-Lucia has accidentally shot Shannon.

Scene.

The episode started pretty slow, but ended fairly strongly, setting up some great potential conflicts between the Survivors and the Tailers, Sayid and Ana-Lucia, etc. Shannon’s flashback gave us one final farewell to both her and Boone, and showed that Shannon wasn’t always a bad person – she just had an evil stepmom, like so many Disney characters.

Death. They dangled a dying Sawyer in front of us all episode, probably tricking people into thinking that he would be the one to die (and causing many a female to cry during commercial breaks), but true to having a TV show be cruel to its characters, as soon as Shannon finds someone who loves her for who she is, she ends up shot. When will people learn? When you find happiness, you’re going to end up dead!



One interesting point: Sayid saw Ghost Walt at the end. How?

Up until now, only Shannon seemed to be able to see or hear Ghost Walt. Does Sayid now see him because he believes Shannon and is willing to believe that he sees him? Or was there some “transfer of power” between Shannon and Sayid when they got to know each other in the Biblical sense on the Island, where now only Sayid will see Ghost Walt?

The good news is, Sayid is much more trustworthy than Shannon – and much more respected than she was. If he starts telling Sayid secrets, there’s a better chance people will listen to Sayid when he reports them.

Doctor. Did you notice when Shannon and her mother arrive at the hospital and ask about Adam Rutherford, the doctor who answers them says “he was dead when he arrived” (while Jack walks by in the background – did you catch it?). This is a flat out lie. As we saw in the Season Premiere, Adam Rutherford was in bad shape, but alive when he arrived at the hospital, but Jack chose to save Sarah instead. I think we would all have done the same, as Sarah was a comely female, whereas Adam was an old dude. However, what this means is that the other Doctor was covering for Jack, doing the very thing that Jack refused to do for his dad when his dad lost a patient due to having been drinking earlier that day. Deep.



Mr. Eko. “I liked you better when you didn’t speak” says Ana-Lucia in “Abandoned”, which begs the question, who is this guy!? I still think he’s a survivor from the Nigerian drug smuggling plane. Perhaps he was a child when the plane crashed, and was taken in by the Others (as we know they like children for some creepy reason), only to escape and live as a rogue mystery man in the Jungle?

One the Tailers crashed, he joined them in an effort to protect them from the Others. His lack of speaking initially could be a result of him not knowing English.

Or, perhaps prior to the crash, Mr. Eko was unable to speak. Much like Locke’s newfound ability to walk, did Eko gain the ability to talk? Again, this could explain an initial silence as he found his way with the words.

Very intriguing, and hopefully this episode should shed some light on how Mr. Eko came to be with the Tailers.

New Numbers. We've all been trained to pick out any instance of 4 8 15 16 23 42, or any combination of them (such as 108) - this is why the numbers in "Abandoned" jumped out at me so much… they're not our numbers! Ana-Lucia said “They took 3 of us, then two weeks (14 days to you and me) they took 9 more.” We all know if this happened to our Survivors, it would have been “They took 4 of us, 15 days later they took 8 more.” Weird.

But what about the fact that there were originally 23 survivors from the tail of the plane (as Ana-Lucia mentioned)? Isn’t that one of our numbers. Yes, but…

I’ve got a creeping suspicion that things here are not as they seem. Remember back in Season One when Hurley found the flight manifest and discovered that there was an extra person among them? Remember our super-strong, super-freaky, friend Ethan?

Sure you do.

That means, if they were counting the number of survivors from the crash, they were actually one high. There really were only 47 of them (a number that should be near and dear to all you Alias fans out there, but I digress).

If we assume Ethan was a part of some larger group (Others, Scientists, something), what are the odds that they would secretly infiltrate the Survivors without doing the same to the Tailers? Not high. More on this later.

My point is, that actually puts the number of Tailers at 22, not 23. Which means, the Tailers numbers are 3, 9, 14, 22. If you don’t see where I’m going with this, it’s here:

3 9 14 __ 22 __
4 8 15 16 23 42

If the pattern holds (one less, one more, one less, one more), we should see the numbers 17 and 43 come up during the Tailers “other 48 days”.

Yes, I could be completely crazy. Just something to think about. But there’s more:

Isn’t it somewhat odd that such terrible things have happened to the Tailers, while our Survivors have remained relatively unscathed? Think back to the fundamental things we know about “The Numbers”.

They were written on the “medicine” that Desmond was shooting up with, seemingly to protect him from the “sickness” on the Island.

Hurley “used them” and found himself basically invincible. Yes, terrible things happened to those around him, but never to him.

In both cases, the Numbers are being used to “protect”. We’ve seen the Numbers pop up on the Island and in the flashbacks of our Survivors, is that why they’re all still alive? Have they all been “touched” by the Numbers in their lives, giving them some sort of mystical protection? Or does their close proximity to Hurley on the Island give them protection by association?

If this is the case, would the lack of the Numbers, or having different Numbers on the Tailers side of the Island bring about all the death and destruction they have encountered?

Teddy Bear. In “… and Found”, we saw the Others carrying a creepy teddy bear. Yet in the previews for this week, the teddy bear is seen in the clutches of a small child from the tail of the plane (and doesn’t look creepy at all). Did the Others steal the kids and keep the teddy bear as a plan to entice other children they might find? Are the Others actually just those children, who have mysteriously grown up very fast due to some wacky experiment?



Libby. As I said earlier, I think it’s entirely possible that there is an “Ethan” among the Tailers – someone who is watching them, steal them, murder them, etc. My vote is for Libby. Why?

She was the closest one to Cindy before Cindy disappeared. Both were climbing up the side of the creek bed, Cindy gives her backpack to Libby, Cindy disappears. Also, she tells Sawyer she’s a “clinical psychologist”. The Island sounds like a perfect place to study the psychology with all the extreme experiments of the Dharma Initiative. Perhaps she’s not an “Other” (and neither is Ethan), but I’m leaning strongly towards the fact that she’s a Scientist experimenting on the Island.

Hanso. There is finally an update to the Hanso Foundation website! It’s this “press release” about an orangutan named “Joop” living to be 105. Could this be foreshadowing a discovery about the Life Extension project on the Island? Has CFL really been on the Island for much longer than 16 years? Are the “Pirate Others” who took Walt the same people who crashed the Black Rock so many years ago?



Ultimate Theory. Think I’m crazy? Read this and blow your mind: http://4815162342.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3377 (obligatory shout out to Mullivan for finding this and making us all much smarter) – I like a lot of the points the gentleman brings up, some are a little too “sci-fi out there” for me, but much like the Purgatory Theory, there are enough facts to give it some validity.

Dave Matthews Band. Lastly, did you catch the DMB playing in the background of one of Shannon’s flashbacks? I think this proves, without a doubt, one of the following:

1. I am actually a writer on Lost.
2. The Lost writers read this Blog and are toying with me.
3. I bribed the Musical Director of Lost with a fiver to get him to play DMB on the show.

DMB on Lost! Worlds collide! It’s like happiness overload for Brian!

To put this in perspective for the rest of you, it would be like them selling a LaRosa’s Pizza with Skyline Topping, or having it puppies fight crime, or seeing a monkey riding on a dolphin.

Something awesome like that.



Enjoy.

Lost - "Abandoned"

(I’m back! In my absence, I know there were rumors of me being eaten by a gator in Florida, having my computer shut down by the Feds, or finally getting a social life and quitting the Blog business, but I can assure you none of them are true! The truth of the matter is, I didn’t have the Internet in Florida three weeks ago (when “…and Found” aired), and by the time I got back a week later, I really didn’t have anything to write about – more on that later. Rest assured, as we enter sweeps, there’s more to write about than ever. So let it be written, so let it be done…)

Episode Title: “Abandoned”

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: Well, this is a Shannon episode (the last Shannon episode ever?! More on that later), so the obvious deeper meaning is how she has been abandoned in life by pretty much everyone. Let’s review…

In “Pilot, Part II”, we learned that Boone and Shannon were step-brother and sister. Shannon’s dad married Boone’s mom when they were children. So right off the bat, something happened to Shannon’s birth mother, but she died very early. Abandoned once.

In “Hearts and Minds”, we learned that Boone’s mother screwed over Shannon when her father died, giving the Wedding Planning Business to Boone. Now Shannon has no mother or father. Abandoned twice.

In “Do No Harm”, Shannon found that Boone had died, leaving her alone on the island. No family left. Abandoned thrice.

The only real connection she has to anyone else on the island is to Sayid, and he’s kinda been breaking ties with her, now that he thinks she’s crazy for seeing Ghost Walt. No real friends left. Abandoned four times (fource?).

Add it up and we see that Shannon is now an island in the world (pun intended). She has no real connections to anyone or anything, and is now being tormented (it seems) by visions of Ghost Walt. When you have no one to ground you, relate to you, or love you, you’ve got nothing to live for. This makes Shannon a great candidate for murdering someone or getting herself killed (much more on this later).

Whatever happens, it’s going to be because she has been abandoned.



TV Guide Description: Sawyer's wound becomes life-threatening as he, Michael and Jin make their way through the interior of the island with the tail section survivors. Meanwhile, Shannon is once again haunted by visions of Walt, and Charlie becomes jealous of Locke's interest in Claire.

TV Guide Breakdown: In your face, nurses and doctors who read the Blog! I’ve heard numerous comments from people in the know about medicine who say “Sawyer’s wound would totally be infected”. Looks like they’re keeping it realistic on Lost! Does this mean that Sawyer is the one who dies? How can they possibly treat it? I don’t think the Tailers can, so all the sudden the rush to get to the rest of the Survivors becomes more important. They’re going to need Jack and his bag o’ medicine to keep Sawyer from getting Boone’d. (Can I make that a valid expression?)

We can also infer that Michael has “abandoned” his search for Walt on his own, and has now accepted that he can’t find Walt by wandering around the jungle by himself. Also, if they’re going through the interior of the Island, are they going to come across the Black Rock? The Island’s “Security System”? The “Dark Territory” full of Others? There’s a lot of potential for them to encounter some serious obstacles, but something tells me that they’ll make it the remainder of the way without much trouble.

It also looks like Ghost Walt is going to be visiting Shannon again. Will he be talking backwards, telling her again about the dangers of pressing the button? Will he be warning her of some new danger? Why does he only appear to Shannon? Is it just in Shannon’s head? Lots of questions.

My professional opinion is that Walt is somehow channeling his “knowledge” – aka his ability to see things before they happen in his mind’s eye – in hopes of protecting the other Survivors. Why Shannon? If you remember, he gave Shannon his dog Vincent prior to hopping on the Raft, a symbolic passing of power. You’ll notice that the first time Shannon saw Walt, Vincent basically led her to a particular place in the jungle where she saw him. Look for that to happen again.

Or… is the power really lying in Vincent all along? Sully, here’s your obligatory “Dog is God backwards!” theory. Did Walt ever really have any power? Or did Vincent have it?

What is Locke’s interest in Claire? My bet is it’s actually an interest in Aaron. Locke knows there is something special about children on this Island, and now that Walt is no longer there, he’s going to start monitoring Aaron for signs of mysterious powers.


Previously on Lost…

Michael breaks away from the group to find Walt. Jin convinces Mr. Eko that they need to go find him, while the rest of the Tailers continue their march towards the Survivors’ base camp. We get a brief glimpse of the Others walking by, and eventually the three meet in the jungle and convince Michael to return to the group on their march.

Sun loses her wedding ring only to find it buried with the bottle of letters. We learn that she met Jin after giving up on an arranged marriage, thus adding to the “…and Found” theme of the episode.

It was the weakest episode of Lost yet. I was actually very disappointed in last week’s episode. That’s right, I don’t just blindly think that anything Lost does is fantastic, I’m actually still watching and judging each week. Thinking back to Season One, there were a few episodes that I kept referring to as “spinning their wheels, waiting for something to happen.” Well, between Hurley’s episode (which I actually enjoyed, but nothing really happened) and this Sun / Jin episode (It was a nice enough love story, but it really didn’t move any stories forward), I’d term them as “wheel spinners”. It’s frustrating, but now that we’re in Sweeps, those days should be behind us until 2006. We should see four knock your socks off episodes, starting with this week.


Others. They do exist!







They’re barefoot and they move with stealth through the jungle! Per Mr. Eko, you can’t find them, but they can find you. Their clothes look ragged, there were both males and females, and there appeared to be only about four or five in this particular group. Is this the sum of the Others, or are they just a part? I’m thinking there has to be more of them, and they’re maybe living in separate “clans” on the Island.

Teddy Bear. So how creepy is this picture?



Three schools of thought on this:

1. The teddy bear is being taken to Walt. This would mean Walt is now a captive of the Others. Maybe they’re bringing him a “toy” in hopes of calming him down. But this would mean that the people on the boat were part of the Others, which I don’t really buy – I still think they are Scientists – or that the Others somehow stole him from the Scientists. Also, if the Others are as savage as they’ve been made out to be (see exhibit A below)



why would they care about comforting Walt with a Teddy Bear? Therefore, this is a stupid theory…


2. Or… it could simply signify that the Scientists were doing experiments on kids many years ago as part of the Dharma Initiative… and that’s what the “Others” are – an experiment gone terribly wrong. Think about it, if you were a kid, and were being experimented on, then broke away, you would totally go “Lord of the Flies” on the Island, because you would have no sense of how to function and survive – those skills are obviously learned in college through drunken nights and countless hours of movie watching.

3. Or… the teddy bear was Alex’s as a child, and the now grown Other keeps it as a memento of her past. This is a pretty strong theory, since Alex was stolen away as a baby, and would likely have some sort of stuffed animal toy.

Brian’s Official Stance: Alex is now an Other. This is going to prove critical, as I could foresee some future episode where we have to rely on CFL reconnecting with her daughter in order to save the Survivors from an Others attack.


Nigerian. Were you lost when I referenced “Mr. Eko” earlier? Well, he’s this guy:



But who is Mr. Eko? I really don’t buy that he was one of the Tailers. I don’t remember seeing him on the flashbacks to the plane, and he just seems… different. He’s too strong, and doesn’t seem as shell shocked as the rest of the Tailers. Also, remember this summer when he was cast and his description was as “a Nigerian”? I still can’t shake this feeling that he was a part of the smaller plane that crashed with Nigerian drug smugglers, and has been living on the Island as a rogue Others killer all these years… but that still doesn’t explain how his co-smugglers could already be skeletons when he still seems pretty young. Is there some sort of time warp going on? I don’t know, but he intrigues me very much.

Found. The “deepest” part of the last episode was a minor little scene between Locke and Sun…

SUN: I don't think I have ever seen you angry.
LOCKE [laughing]: Oh, I used to get angry all the time. Frustrated too.
SUN: You are not frustrated anymore?
LOCKE: I'm not lost anymore.
SUN: How did you do that?
LOCKE: Same way anything lost gets found -- I stopped looking.
Think about that for a minute. It’s so true.

Locke spent his whole life looking for some sort of meaning and purpose to his life. Growing up as an orphan, first he tried unsuccessfully to rekindle a relationship with his father. Then he failed to maintain a relationship with a lady friend due to his festering obsession with his estranged dad. He was working in a dead end box factory job, but he still had a shred of hope - he was working towards going on a walkabout, where he could reconnect with nature and turn his life around. Unfortunately, due to his handicap, he’s denied the opportunity.

At his lowest point, where he’s at absolute rock bottom, we could assume that he’s pretty much “given up” attaining any of the things he’s wanted in life. Then Flight 815 crashes. He is now able to walk, one with nature, and a person that is respected – everything he was always looking for.

In a way, almost every one of the Survivors was lost… but has found exactly what they wanted on the Island, whether they know it or not. I won’t re-hash it again, but think about how Kate got her fresh start, Michael got all the time he could dream of with his son, Jin got out of the mafia, etc. These “wishes” were all granted when they were at their lowest points, brought about by the plane crash.

(Also, I’m willing to bet this will be the same way that Walt is found. Once they abandon hope of finding him, once the group can convince Michael that he’s dead or that they can’t take on the Others to rescue him, that’s precisely when he’ll turn up.)

Death. I hate ABC and their promos. I really cannot believe the creators of the show permit ABC to run commercials saying “One of the following characters will die.” Are you kidding me? This should come as a huge surprise, not as something everyone is expecting and then nonchalantly says “Oh, so that’s who died. Neat”. No! It should be a jaw-dropping event, like “I can’t believe they killed him / her!” Want to see a perfect example of how to kill a main character on a TV show? Check 24’s Season One Finale. Out of nowhere, shocking, and powerful. Want an even better example? Check Buffy’s Season Five Finale. Unbelievably good and sad. Honestly, after that episode aired, a friend called me hysterical about the death. I would love if Lost was the same way. Unfortunately, ABC probably is more concerned with ratings than storytelling, and a way to artificially drive up ratings is to promise something drastic is going to happen. Sigh.

I’ll get off my soapbox. Since we know it’s coming, let’s check out the top five candidates to bite the big one this week…

Shannon.

Why? The episode centers around her, so it would make sense. She has little to contribute and has very few connections to anyone else on the Island. Also, given the Walt visions she’s now having, she’s likely going to go crazy. What if she committed suicide, as she couldn’t handle the visions anymore? That would be a twist… Finally, there isn’t much of her backstory that’s a mystery anymore.

But - Maggie Grace (Shannon’s for real name) just bought a house in Hawaii. And if she dies, who is going to see the Walt visions? Who would take care of Vincent? Who would provide eye candy by prancing around the Island in bikinis? Plus, can you kill both a brother and a sister?

Sawyer.

Why? He’s got an infected gunshot wound, and he’s wandering around through the jungle. In addition, Ana-Lucia has already threatened to kill him. Plus, we have a plethora of males on the island, and a dearth of females, so a male dying would make more sense.

But – he’s so dreamy! They couldn’t kill him and lose all the female viewers who just watch to see him! Also, there are still a ton of unanswered questions about his past.

Sun.

Why? It would be absolutely heartbreaking to deny the viewers a Sun / Jin reunion, which would make good TV drama. Like Shannon, there isn’t much of her backstory that is a mystery.

But – she serves as a “nurse” to Jack’s doctor. Who would tend to the herbs and vegetables that she planted in her garden? Let’s be honest, deep down, we’re all high school girls who can’t wait to squeal in joy as she and Jin reunite and warmly embrace.

Claire.

Why? Killing her would give Charlie’s story a needed boost as he’s left to care for Aaron, fighting to keep Aaron away from Locke’s influence. Again, what else do we need to find out about her past?

But – could they kill the only Australian on the show? I’m assuming she’s breast feeding Aaron, and Charlie couldn’t take care of that. Plus, if she doesn’t raise Aaron, he’ll turn out evil – remember what the psychic said!

Ana-Lucia.

Why? We don’t care about her enough to count her death as a true loss, so killing her would keep all our favorites safe. She’s marching through the jungle ripe with Others and the Monster. She has a pugnacious attitude that could get her into trouble.

But – we barely know her. There is a rumored Ana flashback episode coming up. It would be a cheat out of the promise to “kill a major character”.

Official Pick: Shannon.


Killers. So someone is going to die – but who’s going to kill them? As much resonance as the death will have on the show, who kills him / her will have even more resonance, because that character will be forever changed on the show. Here are my best guesses:

Shannon. Just because it would be great if that “suicide” theory I came up with out of nowhere came true. Also, it keeps everyone else on the show as a “good guy”.

Ana-Lucia. She’s a fighter, like Christina Aguilera. She has a gun, and doesn’t seem like the type of person who would get along well with other females, especially the pretty rich type.

Locke. He could be killing to keep a secret that Ghost Walt is trying to spill. We still don’t know his master plan or what he’s willing to do to keep it in motion. He indirectly killed Boone.

Sayid. He's the closest to Shannon of all the remaining people on the Island, and he was right with her after she saw Ghost Walt last time. If she starts going crazy after seeing Ghost Walt again, it might be on Sayid to take her out to protect everyone else.

Kate. We know she has a sketchy past, but she’s always been a good guy in our eyes. This could totally throw her character in a new, very interesting direction. Plus she’s already killed all men a little bit by dating a freakin’ hobbit in real life, might as well kill someone on the show too.



(I hate you Dominic Monaghan, I hate you!)

Jack. Jack’s been awfully clean on this show, relatively speaking compared to the other Suvivors. How great would it be for him to suddenly become a killer, to give him some more depth and layers as a character?

An Other. Maybe Vincent leads her a little too far into the Jungle and she is killed by an Other? Or would this make Vincent the killer? Or Walt?

Nature. Who says it has to be a person? In the wild jungle on the Island, it’s much more likely that you’ll fall to the cruel hands of nature than anything else. We’ve already seen rockslides, freak rain storms, and the Island is full of high cliffs and things. What if a vision leads her off a cliff?

Official Pick: Sayid.


Lastly, I can’t wait until it comes as some big shock that the person who died in the car crash during Jack’s flashback turns out to be Shannon’s dad. Come on people, read the Blog – we went over that many weeks ago in great detail J

It’s pretty doubtful that Jack remembers the name of the person who died while he was working on Sarah, and since Shannon wasn’t there, I don’t think the two of them will ever realize their connection – but we as viewers will, and we’ll have another example of how everyone on the Island is somehow connected to each other in their former lives…

Lost - "...and Found"

(I'll be traveling for work Sunday through Thursday of this week. Granted, I'll have a laptop, but you never know if you'll be able to get a good connection or enough free time to write thesis-length documents discussing TV shows - stupid work! Just in case, this should tide you over for this week's episode. If I get a chance, I'll add some more and do the typical instant-review - I think this episode is going to need it. I'm very nervous.)

Episode Title: “… and Found”

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: It’s another Jin episode, thus following the naming convention from Season One’s “… in Translation”. But what does it mean? Will Michael find Walt? No. Will the Tailers find the rest of the Survivors? Not yet. I would think since the two groups have not yet met on the Island, it will be a multiple episode journey – they’ve got to be far away. So what is found? I’ll get to it…

I’m on the record of complaining about the flashbacks this season. Aside from Jack’s, there hasn’t been anything earth-shattering revealed. I expect Jin’s to keep this trend. We already learned Jin’s complex background – for those of you who forget (or didn’t watch Season One), here’s what makes Jin tick (it’s kinda like the movie Aladdin):

He was a poor Korean who wanted to marry a rich girl (Sun). He entered the mafia to get the money / respect from her father that he needed to get her hand in marriage. The marriage soon begins to fall apart as he becomes addicted to his job. She gets ready to leave him and learns English to help start a new life. In the end, we find out he was trying to get out of the mafia to rekindle his marriage. Sweet.

So what are we going to see this week? More of Jin’s actions in the mafia? More of his history with his father (who he apparently was embarrassed of, due to his poor and simple roots)? I’m not sure – but again, nothing like this would drastically change how we view and understand Jin. I’m hoping to be surprised!

TV Guide Description: Michael sets off into the jungle by himself determined to find Walt, but discovers that he is not alone. Meanwhile, Sawyer and Jin are ordered by their captors to take them to their camp, and Sun frantically searches for her missing wedding ring.

TV Guide Breakdown: It seems as though the Tailers are finally comfortable enough with Michael, Sawyer, and Jin that they’re not keeping as close an eye on them as they initially were – this will provide Michael with the opportunity he was looking for to make a break for it in his search for Walt… as insane that it sounds.

Honestly, I understand that you just lost your son, but do you really think you have a better chance of finding him (let alone stealing him back from the “Boat Others”) by yourself vs. having Shaft, Ana, Sawyer, and Jin on your side, helping in the hunt? No – but I guess we can chalk this up to “Michael acting crazy since he just lost his son”. I guess there’s no way to tell how you would react in this situation.

So what does he find in the jungle? I’ll put my official bet on “Savage Others”. Are these Savage Others the same as the Boat Others, or are they different Island cliques? If they’re the same, we could see Michael captured and being held with Walt – which I guess would make him happy. If they’re different, we might have Michael captured (or killed?) by the Savage Others, while Walt is still a prisoner of the Boat Others. That would leave the Tailers + Survivors (who I think, if they merge together, I’ll just term “The 815ers”) with two search parties to lead – yikes!

Sawyer and Jin being ordered to take the Tailers back to the Suvivors’ camp? Obviously! Aside from a drowning and an accidental “falling Nigerian plane” death – none of them have suffered any major loss in their first 50 or so days on the island. However, the Tailers have obviously had their ranks thinned (“There were 23 of us.”)

It seems to me that the Tailers unfortunately landed in the “Dark Territory” of the Island, home base of the Savage Others who have been picking them off one by one. When they hear about the luxury resort (relatively speaking) of the beach and caves, they’ll want to get there… NOW. Plus, there’s the whole safety in numbers thing. The more 815ers, the better!

Lastly, we have Sun searching for her wedding ring. Based on finding the bottle of letters, she’s got to assume that Jin has died. She probably has a freak out session when she realizes that she’s lost her ring – the one symbol she has to remember him by – and goes on a frantic search for it. Will she find it? Well, the episode is entitled “… and Found”…


Previously on Lost…

Michael, Jin, and Sawyer are led by their captors (who turn out to be survivors from the Tail of the plane) to their “home base” – another Dharma Initiative lab! This one seems to be abandoned long ago. We find that there were originally 23 tail survivors from the crash… but something has happened to about 15 of them, leaving about 5.

Hurley is put in charge of figuring out how to make the food from the Hatch last, which brings about pressure from various Survivors asking for food / items. Hurley can’t handle the pressure, briefly considers blowing it all up – but then decides to simply have a big party and have everyone pig out on the food and get rid of it.

Oh, and we saw Kate in nothing but a towel, as she took a much needed shower in the Hatch. Awesome.

It was a pretty simple episode, a short, sweet story about Hurley and his hatred of fame and fortune, and simple desire to be liked. There were just a few points I wanted to touch on this week (as most have been discussed in my review below). If I get the chance to update, here's what we'll be talking about:

Three Logos.

Dharma Food.

Rose.

Shaft.

Boss.

Chernobyl.


If not, feel free to comment to keep the discussion going!

The Day After Lost 2.4 Review!

In one sentence: The Happiest Episode of Lost - EVER.

This really worries me. I was brought up on the Joss Whedon method of storytelling - whenever something terrible is going to happen, you have something really happy happen right before it, which makes the terrible thing sting even more and hit with more resonance. Between this and the scary previews for next week (the guy impaled?! the teddy bear?!), I'm more afraid of next week's episode than any episode of Lost in recent memory.

I've heard some people complain that "nothing happened". Well, it might not have been as earth shattering as the first three episodes - but it was definitely a character building episode, and very enjoyable.

However, since it was rather light in content, here are five thoughts for the weekend, along with some pictures (which technically are worth 1000 words, making this my longest review ever):

1. There were 23 of them, say the Tailers. By the looks of the "Second Hatch" that they were in, there were about 7 left. The Savage Others have attacked them - hard.

2. That's right, it's definitely a "Second Hatch" that the Tailers are in - did you see the Dharma logo on the wall in the background? Totally different!



3. I liked that they are now building the Jack / Kate relationship again, as well as developing the Sawyer / Ana one - when everyone reunites, here comes the "love rhombus" I was hoping for!



4. Is anyone else worried that they're all eating the food with the Dharma logo on it? What if it's poisoned or part of some other Dharma project? Well, everyone is eating the Dharma food except for Rose...

5. Hurley's old boss (Randy) is the same as Locke's old boss (Randy). What does this mean?



(...and just for Irmaliz)

Lost - "Everybody Hates Hugo"

Episode Title: Everybody Hates Hugo

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: Is this a pun on the “Everybody Loves Raymond” TV show? Perhaps a shot at the UPN One-Week Superstar “Everybody Hates Chris”? Nah, I think it’s pop-culture free this time, and it should neatly tie the current events on the Island with the flashback. Everyone is going to be hating on our boy Hugo.

Why you ask? In present time, on the Island, Hugo has recently stumbled across a large food stock hidden inside a secret Hatch. Chances are, Locke, Jack, and Co. aren’t going to be keen on bringing all the rest of the Survivors into the Hatch until they more fully understand what is going on. This means Hurley is going to have to keep the food secret. How long can he last? Since he’s a big fat guy, one would imagine he’ll somehow let the secret out, causing everyone to hate him, and force him to lead them to the Hatch.

Likewise, in the past, I expect to see a continuation of the bad luck that continually befalls Hurley after his lottery winnings, making him a sort of social pariah that everyone hates. I would like to see what led Hurley to be in the mental institution in the first place, but I don’t think we’ll be so lucky this episode. It’ll probably be a further exploration of Hurley’s life post-lottery winnings.

Everyone will hate Hugo. Except us – who will continue to love him since he’s fat and used all his remaining batteries listening to music instead of powering some sort of communication device that could have possibly helped everyone... just like I would have done.

PS – look for some serious parallelism between Piggy in the Lord of the Flies and Hurley on Lost… both are fat, accused of eating all the food, and become scapegoats for anything bad that happens on the Island.

TV Guide Description: Disturbing memories from Hurley's past cause him to struggle with a task he's assigned inside the hatch. Meanwhile Sawyer, Michael and Jin discover the identities of their captors, and Claire uncovers a shocking piece of information about the fate of the raft.

TV Guide Breakdown: The task Hurley is assigned in the Hatch has to be entering the Numbers. This seems like a very bad idea to me. Unlike Jack, who very uncharacteristically caved and pressed “Execute” last week, I could easily see Hurley being unable to complete the task due to the flashbacks he’ll have about the terrible things in his life that have accompanied the Numbers.

I’m actually hoping this happens, just from a storytelling point of view – what would happen if they let that timer go off? Would it set Locke off the deep end because his life just lost all purpose? Will it activate some self destruct sequence for this portion of the Island?

Sawyer, Michael, and Jin should discover that their captors are actually the Tailers from the plane. It should be interesting to see what has caused them to have such fear of Sawyer, Mikey, and Jin. If three people stumbled upon our Survivors, I think they would cautiously approach them and try talking to them to discern who they are and what they want. In the Tailers case, they rushed them and bludgeoned them with bats. What could cause this?

The Others. Not the friendly, bushy beard, boat driving Others that took Walt – I’m thinking there are Savage Others out there. The result of some experiment gone wrong, the intentional result of some experiment, or former castaways who ended up on the Island many years ago and have become savages living in the harsh environment.

Lastly, we have Claire discovering a piece of the Raft that will cause the rest of the Survivors to assume they’ve all perished. What will she find? A piece of the boat, perhaps, or the letters in the bottle they all gave to Sawyer? Since it seems that the current is pulling everything around towards the Island, it really could be any part of the Raft.

The last Hurley episode was one of the top three of last season, so I expect this one to also wow us. There’s also this feeling I get that Hurley is pretty key to everything going on – he’s either somehow connected to everyone on the Island, or he’s the reason that the plane crashed there – something… so we should get some interesting clues in his flashbacks. Here’s hoping!


Previously on Lost…

Michael, Jin, and Sawyer are taken captive by the mysterious strangers that accosted them as they washed ashore on the Island, beaten quickly and tossed into a caged hole in the ground. Later, the captors throw down Ana-Lucia, someone we recognize from the tail of the plane. After discovering the Rafters were also on Flight 815 and plan on breaking out, she knocks out Sawyer and we find she’s in cahoots with the rest of the captors.

The computer in the Hatch accidentally gets shot during the struggle with Desmond. After attempting to fix it unsuccessfully, Desmond abandons ship and goes running away through the jungle. Locke and Jack watch an “Orientation” video that Desmond has inside the Hatch which explains that the Dharma Initiative is founded by the Hanso Foundation – the Hatch is one of 6 testing facilities – but something went wrong, and now they must continually enter the Numbers or it will bring forth some unexplained disaster. Kate gets Sayid to fix the computer just in time, and Locke enters the Numbers – then talks Jack into pressing “Execute”.

Phew! I told you a lot happened this episode! It also opens a whole new world (don’t you dare close your eyes) of questions and thoughts about what is fundamentally going on with the Island. Let’s start with some minor things first, and work our way to the headier things…



Helen. So it turns out that Locke had a “Helen” in his past – a real life girlfriend, not just a phone sex operator obsession (remember his original flashback episode, “Walkabout”, where he was obsessed with a Helen on the phone?) However, due to the trauma caused by his pure-evil father, he can’t let go of his obsession with him, and is therefore unable to fully love Helen. It’s a bit unclear at the end if he ends up with her or not – but something definitely happened to her (either she left him or died) which caused him to begin his “love” of phone-sex Helen.

Locke. Doesn’t it seem odd that flashback Locke is so logical and reason-based, whereas Island Locke is so willing to believe and faith-based? I guess that’s what happens when you suddenly gain your ability to walk again. Locke’s flashbacks have all shown his desire to have some sort of purpose to his life, which he now has on the Island. It makes so much sense that he’s so willing to believe that pushing the button will save the world – it’s his destiny.

Groups. With every passing episode, I end up with more and more types of people on the Island. Currently, I’m thinking we have:

• Survivors. The remaining group of our original 47 Fuselage Survivors.
  Tailers. Ana-Lucia and Co – those from the tail of the plane who survived the crash… and the Others
• Scientists. The Dharma Initiative Scientists who are still alive. They might be older and more grizzled (::coughcough::ThepeopleontheboatwhostoleWalt::coughcough::), but they’re still logical and working towards some experiment, be it good or bad.
• Savages. Either former or current test subjects of the Scientists – turned super strong and super evil by their conditions on the Island. I would throw Ethan into this mix, perhaps the “Others” who got to CFL’s crew, and probably the “Others” that have tormented the Tailers up to this point.
• Randoms. People who ended up on the Island truly by accident, not by a master plan of the Dharma Initiative. True, the Survivors and Tailers might fall into this category, but I’m thinking more about Desmond, CFL, and maybe some others we haven’t met yet.

Okay, time for the good stuff – how excited am I to have some mythology to the Island? It’s no longer some “random place” with no history – there was an original purpose, a full cast of characters that may or may not still be there, and mysterious events which brought some crazy scientific experiments to a halt. (I know, I’m a mega-nerd – it’s cool though, I have a hot girlfriend, so in your face) Although we learned a lot based on the “Orientation” video, it also brought forth a lot more questions… such as:

Michigan. Once again, Michigan proves to be the root of all evil, serving as the starting point for the Dharma Initiative in addition to being the bane of all OSU football fans.

New Characters. We were introduced to so many new potential characters, let’s make sure you’ve got them all straight:

• Alfred Hanso. The financial backer behind both the Hanso Foundation and the Dharma Initiative – a recluse, who we only see from afar inside a building in Norway. My money is that he’s on this Island, which serves as the ultimate in seclusion from society.

• Gerald Degroot. Co-Creator of the Dharma Initiative. Bushy beard.
• Karen Degroot. Co-Creator of the Dharma Initiative. Long blond hair. I would pretty much bet everything I own that these two are the skeletons that Jack and Kate found in the caves.

• Kelvin. Former Hatch Computer Operator. Allegedly dead, but no body has been seen – how did he die? Old age? The Virus? Or is he really still alive and out there?
• Marvin Candle. The Narrator in the Orientation video. Of everyone introduced, I think there is the least chance that he would show up on the Island… but did you notice how he never moved his one arm? Weird.

Incident. What was “The Incident” that happened? Did it just end ruin the experiment at Station 3 (Our Hatch)? Or did it somehow wreck all six stations (my bet)? I think after looking at everything that has gone on with the Island, it seems to be in somewhat disarray. If any of the experiments were still running as planned, I have to think we would have seen some proof of them. Rather, I think we’re looking at a bit of a “Jurassic Park” scenario where the experiments all blew apart (not literally) and we’re now on a wild Island full of the results of the crazy experiments.

Right now, the only documented “unique trait” of the Island is its electro-magnetic attributes – which explains the drawing of boats and current towards the Island, and possibly Locke’s ability to walk (doubters, Dr. Dean Boline would like to prove you wrong: http://www.westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/magnet.html), but I don’t think it could in any way bring about an “Incident” of such proportion to wreck the Dharma Initiative.

Numbers. This brings us back to chicken / egg question of the series – did the Numbers create the Island or did the Island create the Numbers? The Numbers are used on the computer in the Hatch to “prevent the end of the world”, which would explain why they would be broadcast from a tower (which CFL claims she originally heard and drew her to the Island) – if by some chance someone came upon the Island, they could surmise this would be the code used… but then why are the Numbers also engraved on the outside of the Hatch, given that it was nearly impossible to break into the Hatch – it’s not likely someone would ever enter that way… and what about the vials of antidote that Desmond was shooting himself with – those had the Numbers on them too… these Numbers are at the core of everything going on… but why? I just can’t wrap my head around it.

Skinheads. The Orientation video also references BF Skinner, as being a “model” for the Dharma Initiative. Who was this Skinner fellow? No, not an inept principal in Springfield – but rather a scientist whose most famous experiment was putting rats in a box and giving them food when they pushed a button. Eventually, he would stop giving them food, but the rats would continue to push with the expectation that food would come.

In case all the blatant symbolism is lost on you, let me beat you over the head with it. THE PEOPLE IN THE HATCH ARE THE RATS. PUSHING THE BUTTON DOESN’T GIVE FOOD, BUT SAVES THE WORLD – ALLOWING THE EXPERIMENT TO GO ON INFINITELY, UNLIKE FOOD AS REWARD WOULD DUE TO STARVING.



Website. Did you hunt around the Hanso Foundation website? The most intriguing part seems to be the “Active Projects” section… especially when you consider what they could mean to the weird things that have happened on the Island.

• The Hanso Life-Extension Project – Life Extension… living longer than you should, being frozen in time. Probably the end goal of Hanso himself, as he seems the type that would be afraid of death… how about the Nigerian character we’re supposed to find this season? He could be the successful result of an LE (Vanilla Sky footnoted). Could the Degroots be an “unsuccessful first test” that accidentally accelerated their life? What about CFL? Remember how she seemed surprised and said “Has it been that long?” when Sayid told her she was there for 16 years? Something is afoot with time on this Island, and this could explain it!

• The Hanso Foundation Electromagnetic Research Initiative – The Hatch was studying it. Seem to be responsible for drawing things to the Island and possibly Locke walking? We never saw Hanso’s lower torso – what if he was also paralyzed and was using this to help gain his ability to walk as well – is that what drew him to put Dharma on this Island in the first place?

• The Hanso Quest for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence – I almost want to say this is a red herring due to people thinking aliens were behind everything going on with the Island in the first season – remember, the Comic Book with the Polar Bears in it? The whole storyline there was about aliens. I’ve got nothing with this though.

• The Hanso Mathematical Forecasting Initiative – Hi, how about THE NUMBERS. Again, what this means, I don’t know – but it could prove to be the most critical of all the Active Projects.
• The Hanso Cryogenics Development Imperative – Cryogenics go hand in hand with LE – but are used to keep dead people in an active state until technology advances enough to bring them back to life – could this be Jack’s Dad, that he saw walking in the forest during the first season?
• The Hanso Juxtapositional Eugenics Development Institute – This one contained lots of big words, so I had to look them up.

Eugenics is a social philosophy which advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits through social intervention. It’s like Selective Breeding. What if Walt / Aaron / Alex somehow fit the mold, and that’s why they were stolen away (on 55th and 3rd)? If Ethan was somehow “bred” on the island, it would explain the superhuman strength he seemed to possess!

Juxtaposition is an act or instance of placing two things close together or side by side. This is often done in order to contrast the two, to show unlikeness or differences, to note the opposite qualities of the two, etc. Could this be the light and dark (Locke vs. Walt), or related to the twins that were on the Others boat that stole Walt? If you think about it, we could be looking at someone trying to clone a super-human race… but why?

If you read on the site, Hanso dealt with weapons and arms, gaining his wealth in distributing them to countries during the Second World War – what would be a better weapon than an army of Super Soliders?

• The Hanso Accelerated Remote Viewing Training Facility – Lastly, we have “remote viewing” – this seems to SCREAM Walt’s name, given his ability to “foresee” things that are going to happen, and use “his mind’s eye” to make things he want come true. This could be why he is so valuable to the Others, he’s an example of what they’re trying to create.

Pretty cool, huh?

(Sully - here's the picture you're looking for...)

Delayed Lost 2.3 Review!

Okay, okay - you can stop the threatening Emails, voicemails, and IMs. I'm sorry that I didn't get my instant review up Wednesday night. Due to a volleyball tournament, I was unable to watch "Orientation" until very late Wednesday night, which made posting afterwards impossible. However, better late than never, here are ten things to make you wonder, and tide you over until my full analysis next week!

Brief Review: This episode advanced the storyline so much - more than any episode in the history of the series, perhaps! We got our "crazy scientist research facility" theory finally proved, and although it answered some questions - it opened up brand new questions to let us obsess about for many months to come. It's also finally adding some "mythology" to the island - how it started, the players involved, and how it came to be the island it is today. Love it.

Ten Things:

1. In response to Dr. Bob's question, "Where does Ethan fall into the different groups on the island?", I've got to think he was in cahoots with CFL and the Others on the boat that stole Walt, and that they're all a part of Hanso.
2. What is Hanso? Check it out: http://www.thehansofoundation.org/ (Clever viewers will find the whole Orientation video)
3. "The Others" that Mikey, Sawyer, and Jin ran into are not Others. Smart money is on them being Tailers that have already gone Lord of the Flies on each other. The question is... why?
4. Where is Desmond going? Another one of the six research facilities on the Island? My guess is we'll be seeing more of him, and he knows a lot more than he is letting on. His story was just a tad too convenient for my liking.
5. Are the other research facilities on the Island, or are they spread across the world? Based on everything we've seen on the Island so far, I think they're all on there!
6. The "Incident" that is referred to in the Orientation video - what was it? In researching the "unique electro-magnetic attributes" of this portion of the island, did they accidentally trip something bad? Did exposing the magnetic core of the Island throw the equilibrium of the Island out of whack?
7. "Don't push the button, the button is bad." Walt says. Yet now Locke is pushing it for as long as he is able. Bad news. Locke's gonna go crazy.
8. The flashbacks the past two episodes have been fairly weak. When you've got so many mysteries behind these characters, to show these fairly mundane vignettes of their lives seems like a waste. Yes, we're building the characters more, but come on - how did Locke lose the ability to walk? What happened to Helen? What happened to his Father?
9. The Orientation video dude closes with "Namaste" - what's that? More Hinduism lessons! http://www.exoticindiaart.com/article/namaste
10. Books seen in this episode:

• The Third Policeman: The Third Policeman is Flann O'Brien's brilliant comic novel about the nature of time, death, and existence. Told by a narrator who has committed a botche d robbery and brutal murder, the novel follows him and his adventures in a two-dimensional police station where he is intruduced to "Atomic Theory" and its relation to bicycles, the existence of eternity (which turns out to be just down the road), and the view that the earth is not round but "sausage-shaped."
• The Turn of the Screw: The story starts conventionally enough with friends sharing ghost stories 'round the fire on Christmas Eve. One of the guests tells about a governess at a country house plagued by supernatural visitors. But in the hands of Henry James, the master of nuance, this little tale of terror is an exquisite gem of sexual and psychological ambiguity. Only the young governess can see the ghosts; only she suspects that the previous governess and her lover are controlling the two orphaned children (a girl and a boy) for some evil purpose. The household staff don't know what she's talking about, the children are evasive when questioned, and the master of the house (the children's uncle) is absent. Why does the young girl claim not to see a perfectly visible woman standing on the far side of the lake? Are the children being deceptive, or is the governess being paranoid?

Looks like I've got some reading to do!

Lost - "Orientation"

Episode Title: Orientation

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: The word “orientation” means gaining your bearings, or becoming familiar with your surroundings. In this case, the word “orientation” has multiple points of significance, no matter where you look:

Jin, Sawyer, and Locke getting “oriented” to the new portion of the Island (or another island? I don't think so - it would complicate things too much) that they are now on – run wild with “Others”.

Ana-Lucia getting “oriented” with the remainder of the Survivors of Flight 815 – learning that there are other Survivors, and the two groups comparing their understanding of what in the world is going on on the island.

Desmond being “oriented” to the state of the world and the island. Do you remember his quote? “So the world is still out there?”

Jack, Kate, and Locke being “oriented” to the inside of the Hatch. Locke started to investigate last week before being confronted by Desmond with a gun. They should learn at least what Desmond thinks he is doing down there, what his mission was, and what he understands about the island vs. what they understand.

Lastly, this is a LOCKE EPISODE. Could we finally learn how Locke has the ability to walk on this island?! That would be the ultimate in “orientation” – a crippled man orienting himself to a new world where he can walk again. I drool at this prospect.

TV Guide Description: Jack, Locke and Kate learn more secrets about the hatch. Meanwhile, after being beaten and taken captive, Sawyer, Michael and Jin wonder if their captors are fellow survivors or the dreaded "Others."

TV Guide Breakdown: If you remember back before this season started, this is supposed to be the “big reveal” episode. Series creator Damon Lindelhof said we would see what was inside the Hatch in episode one, but wouldn’t understand it until episode three. Well, this is episode three! Start explaining! Jack, Locke, and Kate look to be the recipients of the secrets of the Hatch.
Meanwhile, the Rafters wonder if their captives are the “Others”. This brings up an interesting point. There are three theories that I can come up with about who those mysterious figures were charging at the end of last episode:



They are The Others. The Others turn out to be savage beasts on the Island, the same people who killed CFL’s crew. They’ve either gone “Lord of the Flies” as a result of their time on the island, or they’re some cavemen-like race who live on this land that time forgot… the problem is – then who are the guys on the boat who stole Walt? These Others seem far less civilized than those Others, who had a boat, worked logically, and spoke intelligently (albeit like pirates). If they are the Others, there must be multiple groups / clans of “Others” on the Island.

They are The Tailers. We see Ana-Lucia in their camp, so it’s logical to assume that there would be other survivors from the tail section of the plane. Perhaps without the logical and calm guidance of people like Jack, Sayid, and Michael, the Tailers fell victim to “Lord of the Flies” syndrome much faster…

They are The Infected. Let’s say there is some sort of “4-8-15-16-23-42 Virus” on the Island. If this is the case, Desmond is pumping himself with some vaccine to keep from going crazy. Maybe the Others are doing something similar. Those who fall victim to the virus become “The Infected” who are running wild on the Island, and pose an immediate danger to not only the Survivors, but also the Tailers, Desmond, CFL, and The Others.

Whoever they become, how great is it that we went 24 episodes last season without really knowing if anyone else truly inhabited the Island, or if it was just the Survivors and CFL, but now we’re two episodes into the second season and we have at least 3 separate groups and 15 more people on the Island. It really makes you wonder how much is actually going on with the Island. We could be looking at a situation of having the Survivors, the Tailers, the Desmond / Dharma People, the Others, the Infected, and CFL all interacting on this island. Wow.

What Happened Last Week: Once again, here is the brief synopsis of last week’s episode, in as few sentences as possible:

Michael and Sawyer float debris from the Raft while avoiding sharks in the water. The current eventually brings them back to the Island where they encounter a tied-up Jin running out of the forest screaming about “Others”, who we see chasing him in the distance. We see the Hatch scene from 2.1 from Locke and Kate’s perspectives, which reveal a large stock of non-perishable food, artificial lights, and a clock “counting down” from 108 in the computer room.

So what? So let’s dance…

Polar. Did you catch the parting gift that Michael gave to young Walt in the flashback? A stuffed polar bear. Ironic, given that there was a polar bear roaming on the Island in the present. However, I don’t think this was any more than a little touch the writers threw in to make us smile. I’m a firm believer that the reason there was a polar bear on the island was because Walt saw one in the comic book that he was reading, not due to some repressed anger at his father embodied in a stuffed toy he got many years earlier.

Shark. In other animal action, did you see anything strange about the shark that Michael shot? No? Look closer…



Yep! The Dharma logo! (without the writing). My first thought was that this was some sort of “mechanical shark”, like the Monster on the Island – however, when Mikey shot it, blood shot out of the shark and water – meaning it was a living thing… so how does a living thing get embossed with a logo? Either Dharma captured and “tagged” the shark with it’s emblem, or it genetically created this shark as a “guard” for the island. Either way, it plays big into the “monsters protecting the island” that CFL talked about last season.

Food. The Dharma logo was everywhere inside the Hatch! Even on the food in the storage closet Kate was thrown into. If you notice, everything was non-perishable, canned food… and there was a lot of it. It doesn’t look like Desmond has the source of fresh food that we thought after the first episode. He’s been down there for a while, and he hasn’t been coming out to go to the Island Grocery Store.

Countdown. Also inside the Hatch was this peculiar clock:



What does it mean? When the beeping started, the clock was at 2:36 or so, counting down the seconds. Once Locke entered the Numbers on the computer and hit execute, it jumped back up to 108:00. I guess all my theories about the computer bringing forth the Monster are out the window. Speaking of theories out the window…

Desmond. This guy is nothing like I thought he was. He honestly seems as confused (if not more so) than the Survivors about what is going on. He thinks the world is all but gone (destroyed by the Virus?) and thinks that Locke is some sort of reprieve for his “watch post” on the Island.

But this brings up a whole lot of questions…

Based on this, Desmond doesn’t seem like the mastermind behind it all. Does that make it a coincidence that he ran into Jack in the stadium in the first episode, or is he being played by some higher Island Powers the same way that everyone else is?

He must have been given some sort of orders – someone must have put him there, warned him about the Virus, and stocked him with food inside that bunker… but who? How did he end up there on his “race around the world”?

He obviously thinks Locke is a member of the same “team” as he is, since he asks “Are you him?” Locke tries his best to play along, but falls subject to a brain-teaser / riddle / code of “What did one snowman say to the other snowman?”

Locke. John Locke is seriously going to have a mental breakdown. His whole time on the island, he believed in some higher power, some purpose, something more important that drew all of them there for a reason. He embodied all these hopes and dreams into whatever was inside the Hatch… and it turned out to be a confused guy with a funky logo everywhere. The previews hint at him losing it, and it doesn’t surprise me in the least.

Dharma. Okay, I’ll give it the old college try in working out this whole “Dharma” thing. This is why I get paid the big bucks folks, don’t try this at home…



Based on the fact that Dharma is on everything inside the Hatch, they must have built the Hatch. This leads you to believe they are the “Powers That Be” that are guiding everything that is happening on the island. Desmond appears to be a pawn in their game, or perhaps some sort of watch guard for the Island.

In my mind then, Dharma becomes some corporation – I mean, they have a logo, for crying out loud – they must be incorporated in some way! So what is their purpose? The logo shows the word “Dharma” with the R backwards, a Locke Ness looking monster and some crazy Chinese I Ching Symbols around the outside. Let’s hit it one at a time…

Here’s the Chinese I Ching Symbol, and what each part represents:




How freaky is it how those different attributes describe all the Survivors perfectly?!

Fame & Reputation? Charlie
Love & Marriage? Sun, Jin
Creativity & Children? Walt, Aaron, Claire, Michael
Helpful People & Travel? Sayid, Kate
Career? Jack
Knowledge? Locke
Family? Sawyer
Wealth & Prosperity? Shannon, Boone, Hurley
Health? None of them?

This just makes me think all the characters are part of some master plan. They’re all cogs in a big machine, or pieces to a puzzle, or some other overused analogy like that.

Instead of using the stand ying-yang, the logo shows a serpentine creature, which is all the more fitting given the “Monster” that is on the island, the shark with the logo, and the Polar Bear running around. So, the “Monsters” are at the center of it all, with all our Survivors surrounding them. Does this make them the central theme of Dharma? Animal cloning? Creating new super-creatures a la Island of Dr. Moreau?

Or is the company mission behind Dharma more related to the true center of the logo – the word Dharma itself.

In Hinduism, dharma refers to your ethical duty in life. Your task in life is to fulfill your dharma, or to live up to the expectations that your gender, caste, job, stage in life, family obligations, etc. place upon you. If you fulfill your dharma, it will create good karma and therefore allow you to move on to a better position on the cycle of life (reincarnation).

(God bless “Sara” for posting this in the comments section, whoever she is! Easily saved me a few hours of researching Hinduism)

Again, doesn’t this perfectly describe almost everyone on the Island? They’re all tortured souls with something terrible in their pasts that is keeping them from moving on with their lives. None of them really “fulfilled their Dharma” in their previous lives. I know I’ve re-hashed this theme a thousand times in my posts, but I’ll do it again. It’s my Blog, I can do what I want. You’re not the boss of me:

Michael – being a father to Walt
Claire – raising Aaron
Sun – standing up to Jin
Charlie – kicking the H habit
Jack – letting go of the emotional damage his father caused him
Kate – forgiving herself for her best friend’s murder
Sawyer – finding peace with the man responsible for his parents’ deaths
Sayid – reuniting with long lost love
Shannon – using her step-brother, hustling everyone
Boone – getting over his love of his step-sister
Hurley – not letting the numbers control his life
Jin – getting out of the mafia, loving his wife again
Locke – living the “outdoor” life he wanted, being able to walk

Some of those might be a stretch, but you see what I’m getting at. From this perspective, the Island has offered all them an opportunity to “get over” the hang-ups in their lives and start over, and do things right.

If you look at it this way, Dharma becomes more of a “Make a Wish” foundation that rights people whose lives have gone astray. I swear, if Ty Pennington comes out of the jungle in the last episode, I will break every TV I own.

It also really plays up the “They’re all dead, this is purgatory” theory from the first season. As much as I tell myself this can’t be true, there are an awful lot of signs that point to this being the master plan. Dharma becomes “God”, responsible for making everything on the Island, Desmond becomes “St. Peter”, or “God’s Keeper”, The Others are lost souls, and children who don’t have baggage or “sins” are taken away “to heaven” as soon as possible.

Pretty heavy, eh Doc Brown?

Google. One last thing – for some reason, the whole “The Numbers are coordinates for the Island” theory is popular on the Internet again. I know I touched upon this a few times last year, and depending how you write the numbers (degrees vs. decimals, where you place the decimal points) you can pretty much make them point anywhere in the world. Last year, we had them in Nigeria, France, and the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It also tied in with the whole “Bermuda Triangle” theory, remember? If not, time to hit the Blog Archives and read up!

The real reason I bring it up again is to pimp “Google Earth”. If you haven’t played with this yet, you absolutely must. Go here (http://earth.google.com/) and download it. It’s the coolest thing ever. Here is the Google Earth picture of the “Island”, using the Numbers as coordinates:



PS – I’m fully expecting this episode to blow me away. Expect an incoherent rant about my love of the show sometime late Wednesday night.

PPS – The answer is “Smell the carrots?” Hilarious.