So Lost has finally come to an end, how did the finale make you feel?  From the voices on the internet it sounds like some people are quite divided on the episode and even dogging the series as a whole.  Well fear not. I am not here to try and convince you otherwise, but if I happen to pull you into my camp that is fine by me.  So where do I fall with my thoughts on the epic finale? Well I was pretty damn satisfied on almost every level.

!!!Spoilers, obviously!!!

As a television program, the finale, was thrilling, tense, funny, affecting, romantic, and sad. It got my heart racing and my tear ducts rolling.  Whether it was Jack striking fear into FLocke, those same two’s epic fight on the cave cliff, or every awakening in the sideways world, I could go on and on with the wonderful moments in the finale.  The pacing was impeccable, the effects were top notch, and they did a great job at creating symmetry with the series in this final episode.  All the lines they brought back worked and felt right, they didn’t drag out the final confrontation with Smokey, and let the peril of the Island serve as the final act, of this arc, of the Island’s long, long, history.

The sideways world is where a lot of controversy seems to be falling with anyone with mixed to negative feelings over the finale/show and I must say I liked it and thought it worked to great affect.  I will say that I do not jump to the Christian allegory/Heaven angle that a lot of people seem to immediately go to with this finale and don’t see how you can get to that conclusion given all of the spiritual imagery in the church at the end.

In fact, I don’t have a lot of problems with the spirituality of the finale; me being a pretty sound man of science myself.  I think a lot of the issues people are having with the finale is the fact that it embraces spirituality so much in the end after seemingly doubting it and belittling faith as the series unfolded.  But I think most men/women of science, even if they don’t think it is scientifically possible for an afterlife to exist, would probably admit that if they didn’t have reason it wouldn’t be all that bad if there was a place where we could move on to spend time with the people that we loved.

I also am not of the thinking that the Sideways world was bad, or wrong, but was important in the sculpting of the soul to move on to the next phase of it’s existence.  Chuck Palahniuk’s short story Obsolete, from his novel Haunted, is actually a great basis for where I am coming from (where would a final Lost analysis be without dropping a book reference).  It involves the soul having to go through a number of lives and phases before it is allowed to move on to it final resting place and I think that is a great way to look at Lost after this final season.  These characters souls have gone through a lot and maybe they have gone through lives in worlds and universes we never glimpsed on Lost.  I think this view allows you to look very positively and expand upon the idea of Lost while also helping explain their paths as they move on past their Island lives into the unknown.

Also the idea behind all of them getting together and meeting up to spend some time together again, so they can move on as a group to wherever they are heading, is a sweet idea.  I imagine that the bond of the island would connect you to those you experienced it with in a profound way and them meeting together to move on makes a lot of sense. Getting to see all those friendly and happy faces together again in that church after, some being apart for years, was a fantastic moment that I won’t soon forget.  The best part of the sideways world was the characters realization of their Island lives, and while it might have been a bit slow after LA X, once Desmond showed up in the Sideways world those story lines were some quality Lost television.

Now I have talked a lot about sideways world so far which is an element we have only dealt with this season.  It worked out for the best to give us an affecting and pseudo happy ending while further deepening the mythology of the Lost universe.  But it’s time to get to the meat of this shows story, the Oceanic Castaways on The Island.

Early this season we were kind of given a pretty clear picture that what we have been watching is the final act of the battle between Jacob and the Man in Black.  And while some people worried this might nullify the previous five seasons it in fact helped us realize that their actions, while still a manipulated piece of a much bigger game then they knew, were still molding the castaways into becoming better, happier, people through both life and death.  While there wasn’t much for the castaways to go through over the few brief days that the Island story consisted of this season, many found redemption and purpose before it was all said and done.

As a wrap up to the Island story, and in turn the story of Jacob’s tenure of the Island, I think the finale did a wonderful job at ending this phase of the Island’s history.  We may not have gotten to know Jacob till the season five finale but this season we finally got to see how the castaways are connected to him and his brother’s story on the Island.  I think when you look back at the series, Jacob’s hand was in play a lot, as was MIB’s, but Jacob seems to have been playing the long con on MIB and was always one step ahead.

Jacob’s play with Desmond is proof enough that he hoped he would unplug the light to make MIB vulnerable and Jacob also made sure his final batch of candidates were all capable killers if they decided to take a run at the job; well except Hurley.  Sawyer, Jin, Sayid, and Kate were all touched by Jacob well before their trip to the Island and all had killed prior to stepping foot on the beach. It is interesting the two that took on murder the most on their own, Sawyer and Kate, were the first to be touched.  Jack and Locke were also good bets to fall into the hero role with Jack’s need to save people and Locke’s need to find a meaning in something would find it in the Island.  Jacob surely knew MIB would be threatening Jack’s friends and Locke’s Island in his final bid to get off the Island, pushing both of them to do anything to save them.  This leaves Hurley, who was the last candidate to be touched right before he returned to the Island on Ajira Air, who seems to be Jacob’s final piece in his planned reboot of the Island.  Jacob had probably watched Hurley plenty in his first tenure on the Island and realizing that his other candidates might be lost in the battle with MIB he needed another, more pure than himself even, soul to take over the Island and put it back on a path of positivity.

And the finale successfully carried out my presumed plan of Jacob, riding the menace that MIB had become from the Island, rebooting the Island into a more peaceful place, and placing it under the protection of two very worthy men.  The Island also allowed redemption for people like Kate, Sawyer, Ben, and Sayid while also giving Jack the role of world savior, which is a role he seemed to be born and drawn too, and giving him peace even in death.  As sad as the loss of a lot of characters was over the course of the series there were peace and contentment in almost everyone before they passed on.  Sadly Locke was the only man who never found what he was looking for and only in the Sideways finale did he finally get to find out that everything he went through was for a reason and that he might have been right, in a way, all along.

Sure we never found out the answers to a lot of questions and mysteries but I stopped worrying about that long ago this season.  I was a bit disappointed we don’t have a clearer picture of the Island and what it is exactly but I kind of like the fact that we can imagine what it was like before and after Jacob’s tenure.  The show runners made clear that their goal was character over plot and mystery and in the end I think they knocked that idea out of the park while still servicing the mysteries fairly well.  It was a fantastic finale to the show and I don’t know what could have done better than it was really as I was viscerally and emotionally satisfied with the end of this phenomenal show.

Now the final batch of bullets on the finale, series, mysteries, and what ever else is lingering in my mind about Lost.

-Sawyer and Juliet reuniting was an amazing moment that ranks up there with Lost’s all time best and it had my eyes tearing up more and more as they opened to the Island world.

-Love that Richard is not only able to live as a normal man again, but is getting to get off the Island to live out the remainder of his life after he had his world turned upside down this season.  Also, great subtle way of showing and not telling by the filmmakers.

-Matthew Fox went toe to toe with Terry O’Quinn in the finale and that speech about killing FLocke was just great stuff.

-The commercial break with Jack flying through the air was fantastically frustrating as I was on the edge of my seat but could only laugh.

-Ben as number 2 felt perfect and I like to imagine that him and Hurley ran the Island for hundreds of years and did a lot of great things for people in need as time went on.

-I also like to imagine that Kate and Sawyer stayed close friends and that they served as an aunt and uncle to Aaron and maybe even lived out the end of their lives together in some retirement home both old and frail.

-I am glad that Miles made it off as well as he was one of the most likeable characters on the show once they landed in Dharmaville.

-When it comes to Walt and Michael I am left to believe that they weren’t important to Jacob’s plan and that is why they were allowed to leave so easily from the island.  Michael might have been brought back due to the bond he formed with the Castaways there but I can’t quite figure out why he was left out of the special group.

-I’m of the agreement that the Sideways world was manifested with Jughead’s detonation but I am curious as to why Boone made it in and who thought he should be there.  Or were dead souls on the Island allowed to influence the creation of the sideways world as well?  Did Shannon bring him in after Sayid brought here in?

-Speaking of Sayid and Shannon, I am perfectly ok with them being true loves as Sayid’s soul created a sideways world where he still wasn’t with Nadia but she was given a peaceful and better life than she ever had in the Island world.

-I am glad became a main focal point of the final act of the season as he was way to absent before that.

-One plot line I would have liked to known more of is what Widmore’s intentions with the Island were when battling with Ben before Jacob apparently talked some sense into him.

-Also, what was up with Eloise and how did she know everything, that is a burning question.

-The final shot of the show was perfect and I was ecstatic Vincent came back in the end; though my prediction that he would be the new Jacob sadly fell short.

-I would rank the season’s, though it might be a tad unfair to Season 6 since it just ended, in this order last to first; 3,6,4,5,1,2.  Though that would probably change next time you asked me.

-Season 3’s finale was the best twist, possibly ever, in the show and nearly blew my mind.

-Season 2’s run of episodes from the appearance of Ben till the end was possibly the shows best run, but this Season’s final 6-7 episodes were great, as was Season’s 3 final batch of episodes.

-My favorite episode was Season 4’s, The Constant, which was amazing on almost every level.

-Favorite characters rest with Ben, Desmond, Sawyer, Locke, and Richard; I think.  Juliet was pretty great at times as well with Jack really stealing the show this season.

-Biggest mystery that went unsolved for me was probably who built all the ancient stuff on the Island, who built the statue damn-it?  Though, I am ok with this all the same.

-Michael Giacchino’s score was amazing this season and will stand the test of time as best in TV history if you asked me.

And that will do it for now as I have gone on far too long, my name isn’t Doc Jensen you know, it is has been a great ride and I don’t regret it one bit.  I don’t know if we will ever get another show like this and I will never forget it as it will probably always stand as one of my all time top five shows.  Thanks for following along this year and hopefully I can find something else that will fill the Lost void sooner rather than later.

Spoilers!!!!

Lost is back from its hiatus and as am I, didn’t get to write up The Last Recruit two weeks ago, last week’s episode got everyone together and by the end of this episode we lose 4 cast members, 4!

FLocke, Sayid, and Jack make it to Hydra Island and quickly breakout the rebel castaways as they are on their way to the plane.  The plane is rigged with C4 and FLocke decides to get the group on the sub as their way out and that is where all hell breaks loose.

But first a quick recap of Sideways world.  After Locke is run over by Desmond last week he awakens to Dr. Sheppard letting him know that he is going to be OK and that after taking a look at his injury while in surgery, Jack is very confident that he can heal Locke’s disability.  Locke refuses and Jack begins digging into his past to find out how the injury happened.  Upon his investigation he runs into Brenard, Locke’s dentist, and finds out he was on 815, Claire comes to the hospital and they put the Flight 815 connection together, and Jack is beginning to wonder what it all means.  Locke finally confesses the story of his injury, plane crash in which Locke was the pilot and his no vegetated father was the passenger, and Jack tries to get Locke to let go as a step in his own rehabilitation.  Locke shows a twinge of Island recognition in his sleep and as Jack makes one last plea to get Locke to trust him.

Back on the sub Flocke’s plan comes to fruitition and it turns out that the whole good guy game was actually a ruse and that he was trying to get the castaway gang in one place so he could let them blow up as Jack correctly surmises that Flocke can’t kill the Candidates.  Jack’s attempts to talk down Sawyer from diffusing Flocke’s bomb through his they can’t die reasoning by Locke’s hand and the bomb begins rapidly counting down.  Sayid goes to the wayside as he sacrifices himself to get the bomb to the end of the sub which blows a hole in the side.  Lepidus gets hit by a window and is knocked unconcious while Sun gets trapped on the wall.  Hurley and a shot Kate get out first, followed by Jack and a knocked out Sawyer, but Jin stays behind to try and set Sun free sacraficing himself to go down with his wife never to leave her again.  Three characters seen dead, Lepidus is assumed down with the ship, and Flocke (w/Claire) senses that not all of the Candidates are dead and heads out to finish the job as the survivors mourn their lost sub mates after they wash up on the beach.

-well, Wow, it was almost to unbelivable to beleive that they killed off 4 characters in almost the same matter of minutes.  The Sun and Jin moments were poignant but I think the fact they have been apart for so long has lessened the impact a bit; I feel the same way about their reuinon.

-The survivors mourning their loses actually got to me more than Jin and Sun’s final? moment

-Before Sayid ran off with the bomb he made sure to tell Jack about Desmond, that is where the survivors will be heading me thinks.  Also Sayid’s death was almost so sudden and fast to be effected as well.

-And with all of these people dying, are the really dead?  I don’t know if I can fully embrace their passings until I know they aren’t going to end up some where in a better place in the end.

-Flocke even had me still flip flopping on his allegiance this episode and his actions with Desmond a few weeks ago have much more meaning now as Desmond must pose a serious threat to Flocke.

-Still have no idea what is up with Widmore

-Where are Miles, Ben!, and Alpert, hopefully no more episodes missing any characters from here on out.

-The sideways world is still a mystery and the fact that everyone is going to end up in this world got a big boost tonight, right?

-Next week seems to be more MIB and Jacob flashbacks and maybe some of the final pieces of the island puzzle before the end game is played out for the finale.

-Only Four and a Half hours left of Lost.  That’s right, Lost has added another half hour to the finale making for a two and a half hour finale.  Remember next two Tuesdays then the finale is on Sunday May 23rd.
Till next time.

Um, DVR didn’t record Lost so update to come later, stupid DVR!

Ok, it has been a couple days now, so I will spare you any elaborate recap and just get to my thoughts on the episode.

I love the way the Sideways world is developing and this was a fantastic next step following the revealatory Desmond episode last week.  Libby and Hurley are the perfect characters to bridge this connection even further and illuminate things while still keeping an air of mystery around what is going on.

The film is also probably the funniest episode of the season so far as well with plenty of humor in both parts of the story.  I also like that Desmond is around still pushing the pieces and hope he stays in this role as the series winds down.  Also, how aware is Desmond of his Island exsistance, i say this as he said he had a soon named Charlie.

I wonder if the Libby reveal back in season 2 at Santa Rosa will some how play out as a sideways world connection.

Loved the scene at the well between Desmond and FLocke though I am having a hard time figuring out what the hell is going on with Desmond and if he has Widmore in his ear or is just trying to get his time with the Island over and done with so he can join Sideways world.

Where was Hugo’s dad though I wonder?  Will we even ever find out?

And what about Desmond running down Locke and Sideways world?  Retaliation for the well toss through the cosmos or is he trying to get him in “touch” with Jack at the hospital?

It was really nice to see Libby again, especially with Cynthia Watros doing such a fine job in the episode.

I do have a couple complaints on my mind though:

-Seriously, that’s it for Illana?  It was surprising that she blew up but not at all impactful because she didn’t do a whole lot.  I bet she comes back in some capacity.

-Also, stop splitting everyone up and can we please get more time with Sawyer we have had far to little after we got a lot of him in the beginning.  And things are just so scatter shot on who we will see each ep and for how long, character distribution just seems a bit out of balance this series and that is my biggest complaint of the season.

Ok, enough for now, see you next week with hopefully a more timely posting.

Desmond is back and we get our second single character episode in three weeks and the results help explain the sideways world and put into motion the final pieces of the final season.

The episode opens on the island, a drugged out Desmond awaking from a medically induced comma is dragged to a electromagnetic device that accidentally fried one of Widmore’s men but they claim will not effect Desmond in any way shape or form.  Widmore says they need to test Desmond to see if he in fact can not be harmed by electro magnetic events and if he isn’t he will be instrumental in Widmore’s plan and will have to make a sacrifice as part of said plan.  When the magnetic event is flicked on, Desmond transports into his Sideways self and we catch up to him in the luggage lobby of the airport.

In Sideways world Desmond is single, loved by Widmore, and has no idea who Penny is.  Widmore dispatches Desmond to pick up Charlie from jail because he is supposed to perform with Widmore’s brilliant pianist of a son, Faraday, at a charity event run by Eloise Widmore.  Charlie isn’t very cooperative though and keeps trying to tell Desmond he needs to show him something, something he experienced on 815 when he was dying, the clarity of true love.

In an attempt to show Desmond the light, so to speak, Charlie crashes them into a harbor and when Desmond tries to rescue Charlie from the car he gets a flash from the Island time line, the Not Penny’s Boat moment in particular, and this sends Desmond down a road on what this all means.  Desmond gives up on Charlie and goes to break the news to Eloise who takes it well but goes off when Desmond over hears Penny’s name on the guest list.  Eloise tries to tell Desmond to let it go and that he got the life he always wanted so he should forget about this feeling he is having.

Desmond leaves the event but is intercepted by Faraday who tells him about this longing he has for a museum worker and how after he saw her he woke up and wrote down an advanced quantum mechanics equation that could only have been done by someone trained in the science for years.  This Faraday is a musician, not a scientist as we have known him, but he and his friends have figured out that some electro magnetic event/catastrophe could have sent them to this world which Daniel claims isn’t real/right.  As a send off Faraday gives Desmond an opportunity to meet his half-sister Penny which happens to be the stadium that Jack and Desmond met in at in the island timeline.  This time Penny is running the stadium and Desmond approaches her and introduces himself which in turn sends him back to his Island self post electro magnetic experiment.  Desmond instantly signs up for Widmore’s plan upon awaking from his latest mind trip, in contrast to trying to bash Widmore’s head in when woke up from his sedated comma, but when Desmond and a group of Widmore lackeys is heading back to who knows where, they are intercepted by Sayid who requests Desmond to leave Widmore and his dangerous group of people.

In one last scene we see Desmond lying passed out on the stairs of the stadium the instant after he shook her hand and went back to the Island world.  He asks her out for coffee and upon agreeing Desmond gets back into his company limo and asks his driver, George from the freighter, to get him a manifest of 815’s passengers; he has to show them that this world isn’t what it seems.  Bullets:

-I know a lot of people will continue to complain that we need more answer’s, blah, blah, blah, I say shut it and enjoy the ride

-This Sideways world seems to be giving everyone an apparent happy ending though not the true happy ending they deserve; especially when it comes to their true loves

-I miss Faraday; I wish we got more of him this season

-I need to watch this again, but Widmore talks about his son dying, Faraday, for the Island will we learn more of this?

-Eloise again seems to know more than she is letting on, is she one of the movers for these castaways alternate lives?  Is she like Desmond?

-Ah Penny and Desmond, again, not enough of them and if they don’t get back together in both time lines I am going to be pissed.

-What is Desmond’s plan from here on out in both timelines?  How is he going to show these people the right path?

-Also on the Island, did we miss a scene that had Widmore telling Desmond what to do before Sayid got to him.

-What will the consequence be of Desmond telling everyone about this world falsities?  Will it affect that Island?  Smokey? Time will hopefully tell.

-And which side is Widmore on damn it.

-Also, anyone else get a Jurassic Park vibe with the Magnet Box?

-Was the nuke Faraday was talking about the cause of this timeline or something else?

And with that I am to tired to think, another great episode and one that will play even better once the series is over; welcome back Desmond!

Jin and Sun are back in their first above average episode in two seasons, Season 4’s flash forward fake out, and the results are fantastic.

Over in sideways world we pick up after Jin has been detained at LAX, the 25,000 dollars Customs discovered confiscated, and he has missed his meeting he was sent for.  The two check into the hotel, separate rooms as they are unmarried, and seemingly aren’t that close.  Jin comes by late at night to say he is going to try and drop off the watch anyways and a we quickly discover that Jin and Sun are actually lovers, and very happy ones at that, and they have been putting on a front to hide their secret romance.

Sun recommends they run away with her private account and just as she is about to reveal a secret to Jin they are interrupted by Keamy and one of his goons.  Keamy brings in Mikhail, or Patchy from season 3, who is a friend of Keamy’s goon and he translates for the couple.  Sun offers Keamy the money in her private account and Keamy takes Jin to the restaurant where Sayid found him in his flash sideways.  Sun and Mikhail go to the bank only to find her account closed by her father and Keamy lets Jin know that the money he was bringing was the hit money for killing Jin for sleeping with the bosses’ daughter.   After Jin is set free by Sayid, Jin springs a trap for when Mikhail and Sun show up and after a tussle Jin comes out victorious but Sun is shot in the gut.  As a last cliffhanger she reveals to us and Jin that she is in fact pregnant.  Bullet time:

-Great episode on the sideways side of things again tonight.  It is so great to see these two together, especially happy together, and you couldn’t help but be reminded of how Jin/Sun episodes used to be instant classics back in the early seasons.

-Weren’t a lot of mystery’s or secrets revealed here, but I do wonder if Sun’s Dad has it out for her as well on top of trying to knock off Jin.  Wiping her bank account isn’t a good sign.

-Jack operating on Sun coming up?  Or even Juliet being brought into the mix somehow?  Time will tell.

-Jin and Sun being happy together definitely helps further solidify those Jacob/MIB epilogue theories floating around for the reason of the sideways stories.

-Sun never learned English, she must really like Jin this time, and that scene with the two seducing each other was just sexy

And with that let’s go to the Island:

Now this was our first episode since the premiere where we jumped back between Camp FLocke and Camp Sheppard and it worked and felt much more comfortable and right then the camp specific back and forth we have had, even when those were succeeding.  FLocke is pitching Jin and tells him that he is going to bring back Sun and Jin tries to get the hell out of dodge when Smokey goes Sun hunting.  Unfortunately Widmore’s people scoop him up and take him to Hydra Island and knocking out the whole camp in the process.  Meanwhile, Locke’s bid to bring back Sun doesn’t really work and she knocks herself and the English out of herself when she runs into a tree trying to get away from Smokey; who didn’t threaten her by the way.  Sun wakes up unable to speak English to which Jack diagnosis’ as temporary but she gets frustrated not being able to defend her position to a returned and rejuvenated Richard Alpert who wants to take the camp to Hydra Island to blow up the plane in hopes of keeping Flocke from leaving the island.  Jin wakes up on Hydra Island in Widmore’s captivity and his people try and get Jin to verify maps he signed during the Dharma days pointing out electromagnetic areas.  Jin asks to see Widmore, who obliges him, but only after an encounter between MIB and Widmore on Hydra’s beach with a sonic pylon line between them.  Flocke wants Jin back, but really wanted to drop off Sayid to find out what Widmore’s secret is deep within the sub.  When Widmore meets with Jin he offers to show him his special cargo, but we get a glimpse of him before Jin does as Sayid makes it to the docks to ID the secret as Desmond.  Bullets:

-Desmond’s reveal isn’t much of a shocker, but I am greatly intrigued to find out why he is so important.  Like Faraday said, Desmond is unique to this Isalnd.

-Desmond’s Back!!

-Dick move by Widmore to steal him from his daughter, maybe for a second time?

-Love the reinvigorated Alpert and Jack was super helpful and likeable as he is now trying to convince the other candidates to buy into the hype of destiny on the island.

-Sayid is going further and further to the dark side.

-Kate and Claire seem way too bored for the war that is coming.

-Widmore definitely wants to keep MIB on the Island, but I don’t believe he is on Jacob’s side.  This is going to be a three pronged war that I think will be the downfall of MIB as he won’t be able to hold off both sides.  I am starting to buy into Ben’s exploitation bit about Widmore more and more.

-Speaking of the Island, is the final showdown really going to go down on Hydra?  Seems to be pointing that way right now.

And with that, that is all I got, Desmond episode next week it seems and I am intrigued to see what alternate line we get with him.  Flash forward, back, sideways, out of body experience, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Faraday shows up next week.  Until then…

The Richard Alpert episode has finally arrived and it does not disappoint and this episode essentially shows us how it all began in this story we have been watching called LOST.

Picking up the night of Richard, Jack, and Hurley’s arrival to the beach a couple episodes ago the episode opens with Ilana telling the group an extended version of the Season 5 finale scene between Ilana and Jacob where she was bandaged up and bed ridden.  The extended bit sees Ilana all healed up and looking better with Jacob telling her that once she gets the 6 remaining candidates to the temple Ricardo will know what to do.  The group then turns to Richard on the beach who quickly informs them that they are all dead, and in hell, and that he doesn’t have the answers they are looking for before storming off to look for the Man in Black.  After a quick scene of Hurley talking to an unseen ghost in Spanish we dive head first into Alpert’s origins in the Canary Islands, 1867.

Alpert has a wife, who is sick and dying, and scrounging up every last cent they have he rushes to the doctor who is half a day’s horse ride away.  After the doctor scoffs at Alpert’s offer for the medicine, Richard accidently pushes the doc into a table, killing the doctor when he hits his head on the edge.  Rushing back to his wife, medicine in hand, he finds he is too late and is arrested and sold into slavery as a stay of execution by the local priest.  The ship is that of a Captain Hanso, and the ship is the Black Rock, and on their way to the New World they end up crashing into the Island; smashing into and destroying Jacob’s statue in the process.  After the crew comes too one of the officers goes below deck and starts killing all the slaves and on the cusp of putting an end to Alpert Smokey shows up and kills everyone left alive and leaves after staring into the soul of Alpert.

After a few days of agony, attempted escape, and an apparition of Alpert’s wife appears to tell Richard they are both in hell and that the devil is on the loose, the Man in Black arrives (in his pre-Locke look) and sets him free.  MIB quickly pushes Alpert to carry out a task, to take a knife and kill the devil that lives under the statue and in return he offers the return of seeing his wife again.  Richard agrees but is quickly beaten down and disarmed by Jacob upon his arrival and when he catches wind of the MIB’s plan, Jacob talks some sense into Richard and recruits him into the role we have grown to know him for.  Richard confronts the Man in Black, letting him know of his decision to join Jacob, disappointing MIB but he leaves the offer to join him open add gives him the cross necklace of Richard’s wife, the last connection he has to his deceased wife which Richard quickly buries.

Whoosh back to present time where Richard is returning to the site where he buried the necklace, he digs it up and calls out for MIB, telling him that he wishes to take him up on his open offer.  A rustle in the jungle reveals not MIB, but Hurley, who comes with messages from Alpert’s wife, who is now at Richard’s side, only Hurley able to see her.  After a touching moment between the two long lost lovers she gives one last message to Richard; kill the Man in Black or we all go to hell.

The final scene is back in 1867 between MIB and Jacob, post Richard conversion, and the two have a friendly chat over the fact MIB is now trying to kill Jacob and that Jacob almost seems happy to see him again soon. Bullets:

-Loved the shot that panned in front of Jacob and Richard as a wave crashed perfectly with the moving camera, great stuff.

-Nestor Carbonell was amazing in his almost entirely solo episode, delivering great work in every scene and delivering some of the best work in the series history

-Richard’s laugh at the beginning was amazing and perfectly summed up the mindset of a man slowly losing it.

-I love how the Black Rock ends up being what destroyed the statue; I don’t think anyone saw that one coming.

-Speaking of saw that coming, who predicted successfully after the first episode that MIB would set Richard free from the Black Rock and not Jacob.  Great work by the writers to subtly hint at this 9 episodes out.

-I am also glad they dedicated the whole hour to his story, it really worked especially as it served as such an important set up to the origins of this last battle between Jacob and MIB.

-Jacob and MIB’s relationship keeps surprising me as well, especially with the scene at the end of this episode with the two just chatting it up while one is trying to kill the other.

-I still don’t know who is good or bad, Jacob’s analogy with the wine was pretty convincing, but when MIB was talking about needing to kill the devil I was ready to switch back to his camp as well.

-Who’s side is Richard going to pick and what is the significance of Flocke looking over the conversation at the end between Hurley and Alpert.  I predict Alpert joins up with MIB to try and take him out, but I hope MIB doesn’t end up killing him in the end.

-I do wish we could get another Richard episode with his greatest hits as the voice of Jacob but oh well.

All in all one of my top 3 episodes of the season and I loved how they blended the story to give even more meaning to Richard as well as set up the origin even further of this end game for the Island.  Can’t wait for next week and I can’t imagine many more set up episodes left to come before this final push.  Till next time.

Lost’s 9^th hour was a Sawyer flash sideways episode and turned in some of the best material from either of the plot lines this season and sets up a couple final pieces before all hell is going to break loose; I am assuming after next weeks hotly anticipated Richard Alpert episode is when everyone’s plans will get put into motion.  Also the title of the episode is Recon, which is a signal to where we are in the season story I imagine, Recon is right before the battle.

First, the sideways story opens on Sawyer who is pulling an all too familiar con for viewers of the show.  Though this time when he gets called on it he says he is working with the cops and we quickly find that he is actually a cop and not just working with him and that Miles is his partner.  James has a secret though and Miles can tell he is holding something back as he over hears Sawyer calling a bunch of Anthony Cooper’s in the phonebook.  Miles sets up Sawyer with a date before pushing him to confide in his partner and letting Sawyer know he can tell him anything.  Sawyer’s date is with our freight folk red head Charlotte and the two hit it off all the way back to Sawyer’s place.  Charlotte comes across a folder in Sawyer’s drawer marked “Sawyer”, looking for a shirt to spend the night in, and when James walk’s in on her looking at it he flips out and kicks her out.  The next morning Miles confronts James after he finds out that he was lying about his vacation to Florida and pushes James to spill why he went to Australia and lied about it.  Sawyer basically tells Miles to go f’himself and the two’s partnership seem to be over.  After a night alone and a little too much Little House on the Prairie Sawyer decides to try and reconcile with Charlotte, but she informs him he blew it, though Sawyer has better luck with Miles when he confess’ about his childhood and that he plans on hunting down and killing Cooper when he finds him.  The big surprise comes when a car smashes into Miles and Sawyer after their little moment and the driver runs out, on the run from the cops, and is chased down by Sawyer to reveal that it is Kate on the run.  Some bullets:

-Miles’ Dad is still alive and works at the local museum with Charlotte

-I like how Sawyer tells us he was either going to be a criminal or be a cop and each world gives us each story

-I love how they referenced the same old pigeon drop con again

-I would definitely watch a Miles and Sawyer spin off cop show, they rocked together

-I also like how Miles and Sawyer’s Island bond exists in the sideways world as well

-I wonder when Juliet is going to show up, I guess that will be later for Sawyer

-Seriously, Sawyer and Miles cop show

-Is sideways Anthony Cooper still Locke’s dad?

-Does the sideways world culminate at the Locke wedding and cause the world to implode by to many castaways in one place?

All around this was probably my second favorite sideways story yet and it is great to see Sawyer happier in life even if Cooper is still a thorn in his side.  To the Island:

Back on the Island, Sawyer and Jin are waiting for FLocke and Claire to get back and Jin’s attempt to run off is foiled by the arrival of Smokey and his band of merry Others.  FLocke gets the group on the move and quickly sends Sawyer on a recon mission to Hydra Island to check on the other Ajira passengers and the plane itself as it is their ticket out of there.  Meanwhile, Flocke uses this time to talk to Kate and diffuse the tensions that arose after Claire tried to kill Kate for “stealing” Aaron.  Kate tries to get to the bottom of Smokey and the MIB opens up to her about his mother, and how she was crazy, and that he is now worried about Aaron and his crazy mother.  Claire comes to her senses after a talk from FLocke that Kate was simply protecting Aaron and not trying to steal him; which ultimately leads to the two ladies hugging it out.  Sawyer back on Hydra Island finds everyone from Ajira dead except one woman who he quickly sniffs out to be a mole for Charles Widmore.  Sawyer offers Widmore a deal that he will bring FLocke to Hydra thinking the cost is clear and after shaking that deal turns right back around tells Smokey about Widmore and the assumed deal so that they can catch Widmore off guard when they show up ready to fight.  Sawyer hunts down Kate and lets her know that he is playing FLocke as well and that he has  no plans to fight with him and he hopes to hop in Widmore’s sub and finally get off the Island. Bullets:

-I don’t know if I trust Sawyer in that he has revealed his full plan, especially because I don’t know how much he cares about getting Kate off the Island

-Those sonic fences will come into play and it will involve Smokey bull rushing Widmore and him being blocked behind the wall for an epic stare down

-That is of course if the two are actually enemies and not allies which I wouldn’t rule out

-I am ready to believe and buy into everything FLocke says again, he is so damn persuasive

-Claire is still bat shit crazy and one of the few wild cards on the show, can’t wait to see where she goes next and if Smokey kills her to keep her from Aaron in the end

-Who/what killed the other Ajira flyers?  My bet, Smokey, yes even though I am willing to trust him

-Will we ever find out why all these other people have been so expendable on the Island and why they were destined to be collateral damage on the Island?

-We need more Smokey and Sawyer scenes, quickly became a top five character interaction.

-Does the show end with Widmore and Ben supplanting Smokey and Jacob, respectively?  I like this thought.  Will there even be a Smokey in the new Island regime?

And with that, till next week where we will get a Richard Alpert flashback (?) episode and it is going to be amazing!

The latest Lost is our first non-Oceanic patron flash sideways episode, this time focusing on one of my favorites Benjamin Linus.  Ben Linus in the sideways world is a History teacher, at the school Locke gets a job at as we saw a few episodes back, but this isn’t a Ben and Locke episode.  No, the sideways story follows the path of Ben’s attempt at blackmailing the school’s principal for his job and his relationship he has formed with a student, Alex Rousseau.  Ben’s adoptive daughter isn’t the only old face we get to see, his dad is still alive now old and on an oxygen tank, Artz is a science teacher at the school and seemingly one of Ben’s best friends, but it is the relationship with Alex that we focus on and the fact that Ben isn’t a conniving manipulator in this world like he is on the Island; yet.  We learn early in the episode that Ben is a great teacher and one that really cares for the students, especially his young pupil Alex.  Locke gives Ben the thought that he should try and be principal over lunch and between tutoring Alex and taking care of his dad Ben begins plotting a scheme to blackmail the principal for his position.  Here is the rub though, Alex needs the principal’s recommendation letter to get into her school of choice, Yale, and the principal knows how much Alex’s success means to Ben.  When Ben makes his play, the principal holds Alex’s future hostage leading to Ben do what is best for his student; and not himself like his island counterpart.  Ben drops his new found ambition and ploy and seemingly seems to settle back into his life as it once was, to see if this sticks we will have to wait and see.  TO THE BULLETS!

-Love that they keep squeezing Artz into the picture and that his appearance here compliments one of the two Island stories locations

-I loved how Ben wasn’t a conniving manipulator in this world, but easily fell into the role and was quite good at it on top of it; very nature vs. nurture even though it plays to both sides of the argument.

-They did a great job of aging up Uncle Rico and he did a fine job playing old as Mr. Linus.

-I am glad Ben kind of got his own episode and they didn’t go straight to the Ben/Locke shtick, though I hope we get a sideways story with the two

-the Alex inclusion seemed a bit forced, but it worked, I also wonder if we will get to see Rousseau

-Big revelation of the sideways world, Ben and Roger went to the Island and left for some mysterious reason.  So what timeline did they visit the island and what exactly happened to them?  And why did they leave the Dharma Initiative?  More fun questions to figure out.

To the Island.

Back on the Island Ben, Sun, Lapidus, Miles and Ilana are escaping the temple and decide to head back to the castaway’s beach.  On the way, Ilana has Miles figure out what Jacob’s last moments were as Ben claims Smokey killed him but we can safely assume that Ilana knows that this isn’t supposed to be allowed.  Miles lets the group know Ben’s death toll has ratcheted up another notch and Ilana just leads on to the beach.  In the meanwhile, Hurley and Jack run into Richard on their way back to the temple and he leads them to the Black Rock, seeming to be in quite a state of distress.  Feeling his life has been pointless and without purpose now that Jacob is dead, Richard wants to die but he can’t kill himself.  Jack volunteers to light of the stick of dynamite to blow him to bits but after he lights it he doesn’t run away, he sits down to enjoy the show.  Jack explains to Richard that he now believes he was brought here for a reason, he believes in Jacob, and he doesn’t think either of them will die there in that moment as Jacob has a plan for them.  Jack is right, the wick burned out right before the stick, infusing both of them with a sense of purpose and they head off to, as Jack says, “where it all started.”  Meanwhile back where it all started at the beach, Ilana quickly shackles up Ben and instructs him to dig his own grave.  Miles decides to come over and crack some wise and gleans a nugget on Ben that takes him a back for a moment.  Miles tells Ben that the last thing Jacob was thinking before that knife went into his heart was that “he hoped he was wrong about you (Ben).”  Next we hear Smokey coming and he shows up hiding in the bushes out of view from Ilana and offers Ben the keys to the Island if he joins his cause.  Releasing his lock and telling him that he left him a rifle 200 yards into the jungle to get the beat on Ilana; Smokey leaves Ben to make his choice which he quickly seizes.  As the two standoff in the jungle, Ben tells Ilana that he knows how she feels, that he sacrificed his daughters life for the sake of the Island, that he blindly did everything for Jacob, and that he just wanted to be left alone to join Smokey since he is the only one who will have him.  Ilana quickly replies, “I’ll take you,” and heads back to the beach, in which Ben slowly follows.  Along his arrival he seems to have completed his gradual turn away from conniving manipulator and maybe is on the path to proving Jacob right in the end. The final coda of the episode showed that “bad” man coming to the Island is, Widmore in a sub, I guess we know whose side he is on now, and he has a plan. Bullets!

-Richard’s stress level reached an all time high for the usual cool cucumber and we learned a number of interesting facts about the man; he was for sure on the Black Rock, Jacob gave him his eternal life, and that no one that is given this gift can kill themselves, I still hope this isn’t all the Richard back story we get though as I feel like the Black Rock’s arrival was the beginning of this latest run of candidates on the Island and we will get to see the beginning of this game between Jacob and Smokey

-Ben sticking with team Jacob is quite the surprise and I really am beginning to think that he will be the key master when it is all said and done

-so glad they didn’t dig up Locke for resurrection, I think that would be lame.

-Miles stole the Nikki and Paulo diamonds, will this matter in the end or just a funny little note

-Sun still has nothing to do, when will she get anything to do besides complain about Jin?

-Ilana is distraught and seems to barely be keeping it together, wonder when the tough front will crumble.

-Both sides of the battle seem to be set, now it is time for the games to begin

-Where the F is Sawyer?

-new Jack is a confident son of a bitch and this seems to be the first step in reclaiming his leader status

-Widmore seemed to be able to get the Island pretty easily and what is his plan.

-Random thought I just had, why had Smokey been at the beckon call of the Others at times and helped them, i.e. taking out Keamy’s boys.

-Also, is Widmore on Team Smokey or his even a third party to the fight about to unfold over the Island?

Ok, next week’s preview showed nothing, but I did hear Sawyers voice so that is a plus.  But this was another great example of using the Sideways story to compliment the Island tale but supplied no hints to what that world is.  Either way, nine episodes left!

So, the Castaways have left the temple!  Sundown, the sixth episode of LOST’s final season, follows Sayid both on and off the Island and MIB/Flocke has made a huge play that has reshuffled the season for the run up to the end.

We will start off the island in the sideways world as usual with these recaps, and I pardon myself early for the brevity because I am a tad under the weather. (Or are you happy to have these shorter?)  Anyways, Sayid heads off to see his long lost love Nadia only to find that she has two kids with Sayid’s brother, Omer, and that Sayid and Nadia seem to have some how missed their chance at love.  Sayid soon finds out that Omer is in some financial trouble as he took a loan from some nasty folks who seem to be for blame the next day when Omer ends up in the hospital after being, “mugged”.  Sayid decides to stay out of his brothers affairs per the pressings of Nadia and his own desire to repent for his crimes in the Iraq war only to have trouble find him.  Picked up by a pair of hooligans, Sayid is taken to a restaurant to meet with the head honcho, a Mr. Keamy (our favorite freighter mercenary), which Sayid quickly flips the tables on them, killing the two guards and Keamy to find Jin locked up in the freezer of the restaurant they are in. Bullet Me:

-Now, this was the first sideways story to be more focused on setting up a multi episode story with than just looking at the castaway’s alternate lives.  I wonder if we will start seeing a more connected story from here on out or a mix of closed off stories and a running of these stories together.

-Sayid’s guilt is interesting here and even though he does fold to the killer inside him at the end, I think that is was more in the interest of protecting Nadia and the kids than a bloodlust that comes out of him in the other timeline.

-I like how Keamy is bad in both universes as well; he fits so well into these gangster shoes though.  Hopefully we get more of him in the Jin episode down the line.

Not much else going on in the sideways world, but it was a solid entry again for the sideways universe and it seems like it is signaling a change in how these parts of the episodes will be handled from here on out and start connecting them on more than simple encounters.

ON TO THE ISLAND!

So, Jack and Hurley are stuck up at the lighthouse and are MIA this episode but pretty much everyone else is on hand at the temple for the Man in Black’s arrival and he has a bunch of messages for the local Others.  After Dogan and Sayid rough it up in a kung fu fight, MIB sends Claire into the temple to request Dogan’s presence outside the island.  Dogan doesn’t bite, suspecting the MIB will kill him if he leaves the temple, and sends Sayid with instructions to stab the MIB on sight.  MIB takes the stabbing without a hitch and hands Sayid his sword back, calmly explaining to him that Dogan was hoping that he (the MIB) would kill Sayid, and hence trying to get someone else to kill Sayid again.  MIB offers Sayid a chance to have the one thing he always wanted, even if she is dead, if he delivers a message to the Temple.  The message is this, anyone who leaves before sundown is now free, as Jacob is dead, and anyone else left inside will die.  In the meantime, Kate worked her way back into Temple was surprised to find Claire and told her that she took Aaron off the island.  Sayid pays a visit to Dogan after delivering his message for MIB and after a sorrow confession of his past Sayid drowns Dogan in the healing pool and slits Lennon’s throat when he confronts Sayid over his murder.  Then all hell breaks lose as Smokey comes busting in, Lennon said Dogan was the only thing keeping MIB out, and every other that didn’t leave, and a lot left, end up dead.  In the mayhem Ben, Ilana, Sun, and Lapidus show up on grab Miles, heading out of the temple the same way Jack and Hurley did leaving Kate behind with Claire and a gleefully sadistic looking Sayid as they join Flocke and his new following of Others into the jungle.

-Sayid has officially lost it, what ever Flocke told him/or showed him hit home as he scared the shit out of Ben in a brief encounter as he sat looking at his victims in the healing pool, creepy.

-Poor Dogan and Lennon, I don’t want them to go, especially Dogan.

-The show seems to be done with the Temple and we are heading back into the jungle with Flocke and I have no idea what is going to happen next.

-Kate is in quite the tight spot now that Claire knows the truth about Aaron, and what will be the repercussions of Jin lying about Aaron when Flocke and his flock get back to wherever Jin and Sawyer are being held/hiding.

-What is up with The Others being such followers by the way?  They joined the entourage of the perceived evil MIB in quite a hurry.

-Really, Dogan and Lennon are gone? So sad.

-This was another solid episode on the Island and I can’t wait to see what MIB shows us next.

-I am happy Miles got so more face time, but we need to get through these original castaway episodes so we can get more info on some of the great peripheral characters still hanging out on the Island, i.e. Ben.

Ok, I am sick and tired, time to wrap this up.  Not a whole lot of reveals this week but it has pushed the show out of set up mode and we will probably be firmly on our in a classic Lost sprint to the finale as soon as next week.  And it looks like a Ben episode!, show it to me.

Till next time.