"Lost" Season 2 Episode 23/24 - Live Together, Die Alone

Yeah, there's no way around it this time. "WOW!!!!!!" What a spectacular summation of what season 2 of Lost has been all about. We opened some chapters this year and ultimately closed them, only to introduce an even BIGGER mystery on (AND off) the island. This 2 hour opus was PACKED with useful information in the overall mythology of what Lost is all about. And the biggest thing the creators of Lost did was permanently dispel several rumors that have been going around. Rumors that even I have gotten caught up in. Then again, some rumors that started to begin even last year were confirmed as true (maybe)!

We have so much to cover. I'm not going to lie to you, this will NOT be a short blog! No sense in more of my blog exposition. Let's just get into it! (and Thanks again for your patience with me getting a chance to write this baby up.)

ABC Recap: http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/episodes/223.html
Watch Free: http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing

Major Plotlines:

1. The Walt Rescue - Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Hurley and Michael adventure
2. The Scouting Party - Sayid, Jin, Sun
3. Desmond Flashback (outstanding!)
4. The HATCH Present Day
5. The "Challah"

Obviously, some of the storylines were intertwined as we went through the episode, but we'll try our best with this format!

1.) The "Walt Rescue"

Basically Jack hides information from the rest of the crew of his and Sayid's suspicions of Michael's intentions. And they go on one more whirlwind NORTH-bound island adventure. Little does Jack's crew know that Sayid is taking a sailboat to the North shore to scout the area. A sailboat that was CORRECTLY identified by yours truly as Desmond's Sailboat (well, kinda Desmond's...but he WAS inside wasn't he?) There's nowhere else that this fits so let's just put one Present Day Desmond tidbit right here: So Desmond sailed west for probably a month and change (all of season 2) and ended up right back on the island. Then he called the place a SNOWGLOBE and that there is no way out. This kinda hints back to the whole Biosphere or controlled environment theory that's been floating around. But who knows? It seems that Desmond doesn't! So why should we take his Snowglobe comment to heart?

• Let's start off with some humor. Sawyer finally realizes what Jack meant by "we got caught in a net" as he almost sets off a Rousseau trap himself. Kate didn't find out yet about Sawyer's relations with Ana Lucia, but we can be sure the cat will eventually come out of the bag.
• Okay, so how about that crazy Eagle or Bird or whatever? The thing definitely sounded like it screamed "HURLEY." I didn't realize it until Hurley said it himself and I took the opportunity to rewind the TiVo. Apparently they encountered a similiar Bird during the season 1 finale when they were enroute to get the dynamite (which happened to have Jack, Kate, and Hurley in that party). I don't recall that but apparently the bird screamed "Hurley" then too. What DID result of this interaction was that Michael realized that his Gun was loaded with an empty mag. Uh Oh.
  
  (as always, click to enlarge images)
• Well we did get at least ONE confirmed death in the episode. And that would be one of the crazy OTHERS that were trailing our rescue team. I believe Kate got the shot off and the other guy went running. This caused all to come out in the open and we got to see some actual GOOD dramatic acting from Hurley as he sincerely looked like he wanted to strangle Michael upon discovering the culprit behind Libby and Ana Lucia's death.
• The crew stumbles upon a depository area for tons of the crazy containers from the Pearl Station Air Chute. They seemed to have gone to nowhere. Hmmm perhaps we got confused to WHICH station was the experiment. Sawyer also stumbled upon Locke's map that he sent through the air-mail. Did Jack recognize the scribbling from his intimate sessions with Locke in the hatch a few episodes back? That would seem like a stretch.
• Sayid sets off the Black Smoke (a nice parallel to the season 1 finale where that signified that the "OTHERS" were coming) to signal to Jack that he has arrived at the North Shore. It seems to be miles away from where they are. And then they are captured and seized by The Others. What on earth did they got shot with? Crazy Taser Darts? Did anyone else hear that electronic buzzing sound they were making? Whatever it was, it incapacitated the crew.
• We are brought to some crazy port on the island where Zeke, Pickett, Miss Klugh, and Alex are all present. Of course we found out Zeke's name is Tom and Klugh's name is Bea. And we do confirm that they ghetto fabulous appearances are all deceiving. Tom (I'm still calling him Zeke!) removes the beard and he resembled the guy in Claire's "on-island" flashback who told Ethan that "He won't be happy." Speaking of HE can we confirm that this was HENRY all along (who also shows up with a stately presence about him)? I don't know if we confirm that, but he does seem to be a pretty smart guy who would allow himself to be captured and brought to the survivor's camp to set some stuff up. Of course, I remain skeptical of Rousseau and if SHE is actually not in cahoots with the "Others." Regardless, we can say with confidence that Henry seems to have some sort of Rank over the present company at the dock (Gotta love how a show like Lost allows words like CONFIDENCE and SEEM to be in the same sentence!)
• Henry puts on a whole show about how they are the GOOD guys and demonstrates this by seemingly allowing Michael to get the boat and take Walt off the island at bearing 325 and they will find rescue. And he adds the comment "Once you leave, you can't get back." We'll get into some theorizing about this when we return to Desmond's story. Do we really think that Michael and Walt are LEAVING the island and will be rescued? I have 2 thoughts....either YES they will get off the island and it will lead to a developing plotline discovered in the cliffhanger last night....but I'm leaning towards NO that they will NOT find their way out of the SNOWGLOBE, as Desmond so nicely put it. Then again why would Henry let Walt go when he said they got more than they bargained for when they got him? Did he freak them out? Does he have some plan in mind? Yeah, I'm going to say there is a plan. Guess we'll find out at some point in season 3!
• Henry also lets Hurley return back to the other survivors. The others state that his purpose was to tell everyone that they should NOT return to where they are. You could sense Hurley's regret in leaving Jack, Kate, and Sawyer behind. How is he going to know how to get back? He was blindfolded on the way there!
• We leave these 3 main characters with the signature "OTHERS" hoods over their heads and them being taken to their main base. This should set up an interesting start to season 3, which is surely being defined as the season we will learn more about these "Others."

2.) The Scouting Party - Sayid, Sun, Jin

Sayid is able to formulate a plan after acquiring Desmond's sailboat that he will arrive to the Other's camp before Michael leads Jack and crew there and scout the area. He recruits Jin to come with him, but someone will not be separated from him again.

• Sun learned her lesson in the season finale of Season1 when she let Jin go on the raft after reconciling with him. Was one more nice parallel that she decided to accompany the scouting trip so she could stay with her man. She argued to Sayid that she would serve as a translator.
• On their journey North, Sayid and crew stumble upon a crazy partial statue of a foot with 4 toes. I will revert to some excerpts lost.cubit.net found about the image sinceI have nothing to add here. But I do love the image!
  "
  In "Live Together, Die Alone", Sayid borrows Desmond's boat and sails with Jin and Sun to the north side of the island. Along the way, the come across a strange finding. They spot a statue of a giant foot with four toes on the shore. The statue is broken, and all that remains is a foot. The statue is reminiscent of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
  The statue also seems familiar to the statue described in this summary of "Headlong Hall" by Thomas Love Peacock:
  

  Quote
  "The place is quite a wilderness," said Squire Headlong: "for, during
  the latter part of my father's life, while I was finishing my education, he
  troubled himself about nothing but the cellar, and suffered everything else to
  go to rack and ruin. A mere wilderness, as you see, even now in December; but in
  summer a complete nursery of briers, a forest of thistles, a plantation of
  nettles, without any livestock but goats, that have eaten up all the bark of the
  trees. Here you see is the pedestal of a statue, with only half a leg and four
  toes remaining: there were many here once."

  Quote
  Here you see is the pedestal of a statue, with only half a leg and
  four toes remaining: there were many here once. When I was a boy, I used to sit
  every day on the shoulders of Hercules: what became of him I have never been
  able to ascertain. Neptune has been Iying these seven years in the dust-hole;
  Atlas had his head knocked off to fit him for propping a shed; and only the day
  before yesterday we fished Bacchus out of the horse-pond.""
  

• They also identify the crazy Stonehenge type ancient remains where the others "SEEMED" to be residing. We discover that the camp is deserted and that hatch door that was being guarded, simply opens to a WALL. Straight out of a road-runner cartoon. More confirmation that the Others are not who they say they are! (which Walt told us last week and Kate discovered in the Medical hatch several episodes ago) Stay tuned for season 3 for more fun with the OTHERS!

3.) Desmond Flashback

Wow, yes the flashback itself was wow-worthy. We have been hoping all season for more information on what was going on down in that hatch, and the season finale didn't disappoint! But Desmond's flashback gives us even MORE history before just his Hatch days. And it uncovers even MORE crazy twists in the Lost mythology. Are we ready to break this one down? Let's give it a shot!

• We discover Desmond's story begins with him leaving prison and being dishonorably discharged from the Scottish Military. The Good news here is that there seems to be more story to tell for how he ended up there in the first place. That may just mean that Desmond will return NEXT season!
• Desmond's belonging's that were returned to him included Charles Dickens's Our Mutual Friend If you want to read more about why the producers chose this book to be the last thing Desmond reads before he dies check out this really insightful article. Thanks Maya for sending it to me!
  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/25/arts/television/25lost.html?th&emc=th
• We also discover Desmond's full name is "Desmond David Hume." Check out comments from our teaser blog from anonymous for some insightful information on David Hume. The John Locke he/she refers to is the REAL John Locke...not our resident island baldy.
  
  "Desmond's full name is Desmond David Hume, an undisguised and obvious reference to 18th Century Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776). Hume was influenced by the works of John Locke, and also a critic of some of Locke's theories, such as the people's consent of government, man in the state of nature, etc. Hume also believed that all reality was relative and might be a figment of one's imagination. "
  
  Thanks anonymous! Kinda interesting how there is some built-in conflict between Locke and Desmond's characters in Lost, but they are both equally intrigued by the Hatch and the infamous "Button"
• We FINALLY find out who was in that picture that desmond took with him as he fled the Hatch early in season 2. We had all speculated it was Sarah (Jack's ex-wife) based on how Desmond talked about Sarah. Boy were we off-track! No, the girl in the photo is none other than Penny Widmore (as I stated before, she was the female lead on the HBO Series "Mind of the Married Man" which I think I was one of the only people that watched), daughter of Charles Widmore (aka Caleb Nichol from The OC (I know some of you out there are closet watchers!) or Season 2 Vice-President on 24). Ahh there they are again...The good ol' Widmore family. It's all starting to make sense with Widmore Constructions being on a sign in Charlie's flashback in the infamously horrid episode "Fire + Water" since they were in the UK. Of course we can't forget Sun's pregnancy test was ALSO a product of WIDMORE LABS. We can sure bet that the Widmore family will play a huge role in the future mythology of Lost. I would even bet there are ties to Dharma and/or the Hanso Foundation.
  
• Apparently Mr. Widmore had confiscated all of the letters Desmond had ever written Penny during his sentence. We get a good look at one of the envelopes. Apparently Penny lives in Knightsbridge which is where the girl LUCY lives. Lucy was a girl in a season 1 Charlie flashback that tries to get Charlie a job with her father in the copier business. The relevance? There's not necessarily any relevance. Except that now 2 Charlie flashbacks relate to Widmore.
  
• Charles apparently tries to buy off Desmond from ever seeing his daughter again. It seems that there was a run-in in the past that led Desmond to serve time in prison. Desmond takes the money but is on a mission to win over Charles by winning a sailing race around the world (sponsored or something by Mr. Widmore). So no Mike (that would be me talking to myself), Desmond was NOT racing around the world trying to recruit people for the Dharma initiative. OOPS!
• Desmond arrives in America (I'll guess Los Angeles) and has a run-in with our buddy Libby! We get a bit more information on her at this point. Apparently she was married to a man named David (could or could not be who Hurley's imaginary friend was) who died an early death. There could be more to that story! Stay tuned! Anyway, and upset Libby with a crazy hairdo gives Desmond her husband's sailboat named after her "Elizabeth." Ironic that at Libby's funeral, her dead ex-husband's sailboat comes sailing up on the island. Crazy stuff.
  
• Desmond has a run-in with his life-long love Penny...right where he runs into Jack for the first time. (At the crazy stadium where they're both running the steps). Penny apparently tracked down Desmond since Desmond was asked to remain out of her life. She clearly still has feelings for our Scottish buddy. And she mentions in passing the Charles Dickens book that Desmond is still waiting to read.
• We later catch up with Desmond trying to sail through some stormy waters and then we see him in familiar territory. We see a bunch of people in Hazmat suits running towards Desmond and then bringing him into the Hatch. But then, we only see one man after that. And it's good ol' Jon Inman from the Gulf War. The man who taught Sayid to become a torturer. But no, he doesn't go by Jon on the island. He is KELVIN Inman. Yes the very same Kelvin that Desmond talks about early in season 2. We are meant to be confused by Kelvin's true intentions with Desmond. And we need to get through all of the details before we can start dishing into theories!
  
• Kelvin asks Desmond the same question Desmond asked Locke "Are you Him?" and "What did one snowman say to the other?" Desmond must've thought this is what you're supposed to ask your replacement. It was probably just some crap that Kelvin made up. Anyway, in case anyone has been wondering all season what the punchline to the snowman joke is....it was "smells like carrots." Yeah, I think we alreay knew.
• Kelvin apparently also was carrying on the task of his old partner Radzinsky who had started drawing the map of the island with Dharma Detergent and his photographic memory. Apparently they could never SEE what they were writing. We are still unsure if Desmond continued drawing that map after Kelvin died.
• Kelvin tells the story of how Radzinsky blew his brains out in the hatch. Apparently he got a bit stir crazy.
• We learn of the Fail-Safe key. Kelvin says it's the only other way out. Turn this key and this all goes away. Kelvin got drunk any couldn't bring himself to do it. We learn more about the "INCIDENT" referred to on the Orientation video. We confirm that there IS an electromagnet hiding in the swan hatch. Geologically Unique. There was a leak, now the charge builds up, everytime it builds up the button discharges it before it gets too big. So why do they push the botton when they can just turn the thing off? Well I guess we don't quite know what this key does just yet, do we? Kelvin asks "Do you have the courage to take your finger out of the Dam and blow the whole thing up instead?"
• Man...every scene in this flashback seemed important. The final one with Kelvin shows Kelvin with a ripped hazmat suit going out of the hatch.....Desmond decides to follow him. Kelvin takes off the suit once out of the hatch....and Desmond realizes he's been HAD. He follows kelvin across a great distance (great enough to take longer than 108 minutes) and finds that Kelvin has been working on Desmond's sailboat (if it had even been damaged)...and he was going to escape. Now we know where Desmond was running to in those early season 2 episodes! One thing leads to another and Desmond accidentally kills Kelvin....oops!
• We follow Desmond back to the Hatch which is under a crazy SYSTEM FAILURE. What we learn is that this System Failure happens to have occurred on September 22, 2004 (WE FINALLY HAVE A YEAR!!!!) Things were getting pulled into the magnet.....flying all over the place....Desmond finally keyed in the numbers and everything shut down. Could this be what Crashed Flight 815? Desmond seems to think so. And based on what we see later, we may be inclined to think so as well! The crazy thing is.....this was everyone's original theory once we saw that crazy button. "It must activate the magnet and somehow that pulled the Plane down." was a very common theory. Did we just seem to forget about it after all of this time? Sure we did....because they've been leading to think that the whole thing was FAKE! Damn crafty writers!
• Finally, the final flashback scene shows Desmond preparing to read his book, and preparing to put an end to his miserable existence. When a letter from Penny falls out of the book telling Desmond...I have not given up on you. And was supposed to reach him at the most desperate hour. Also, what happens was HOPE.....he heard knocking on the hatch door and he shined a spotlight up and there was John Locke. Anyone remember Season 1 when Boone fell in the plane? John went right back to that hatch looking for answers and a LIGHT shined up his way. He talks about it in this episode too to remind us that it happened. Apparently this saved Desmond's life who was also in a moment of despair.

Sorry...I didn't mean to recap the whole flashback, but I didn't know what else to do! It all seems so important!

4.) The Hatch Present Day

Okay, so when we last left Locke he got up from the Beach without his crutches or splint and walked away from the funeral. He just happened to be going back to the hatch to confront the Button one last time. Long story short, Locke finds out Desmond is back on the island the two of them team up to shut down the button (based on their knowledge of the Pearl Hatch). Eko recruits Charlie for help in stopping Locke from his mission. So what went down worth noting? EVERYTHING!

• Desmond used the trick he learned from Kelvin to force a Lockdown and locked him and "Locke" with the computer.
• Eko and Charlie find Hurley's stash of dynamite from the Season 1 finale when they blew up the hatch. Eko insanely tries to blow up the BLAST doors (they're not called BLAST doors for the hell of it Eko!) Charlie and Eko have a close call with death as the explosion instead trashes everything else in the hatch as they run for their lives.
• Locke and Desmond get into some heated debates about the button as Desmond is not 100% convinced yet it's the right way to go. Hell, why should he believe Locke? He's seen the magnet in action! We see Locke show regret for dragging Boone into his whole quest for answers and getting him killed which leads him to tell Desmond the "light in the hatch" story. This pays off in the end.
• We finally see what was printed on that report (from the Pearl Station) on 9/22/04. SYSTEM FAILURE which leads Desmond to believe he crashed Flight 815. If everything is not happening by coincidence, then there has to be more to this story. And that would mean that Kelvin had to be involved somehow. Desmond was MEANT to follow Kelvin out of that hatch on that particular day and that length of distance away from the hatch so that flight 815 could crash on the island. But then how could they control who lives and dies? We know the others had a list! There is still more to this plane crash story! But if that magnet is involved, then we can't say that the producers lied to us. We DID find out why the plane crashed. I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of Kelvin. As the producers alluded to, we should be getting a flashback with The Others on the island pre-crash. Who's to say that we won't find out more about Kelvin's mission in that hatch? If season 3 is when we find out about the others, I'm 90% certain we'll get an episode like this.
  
• And of course this all leads to Locke breaking the computer and forcing the clock to run out with no time to enter the numbers. We get our system failure, and everything in the hatch stars self-combusting. We finall get a look at the FULL Heiroglyphics which translate to cause DEATH as we suspected.
  
• We confirm that something DOES happen when that button gets pushed and that the PEARL station was the experimental station. (as alluded to by the containers full of notes that ended up in the middle of nowhere) Gotta love when Locke says flat out to Eko "I WAS WRONG"
• Desmond realizes that Locke saved his life on that fateful day, and decides it's time to repay the favor.....he opens the trapdoor on the floor and turns the key (which he put in his Charles Dickens book and put on the Book shelf before he had left the hatch. How did Locke not find this???) in the fail-safe. And then....the craziest thing happens which leads us to...

The Challah

Yes, last year's finale cliffhanger was dubbed "THE BAGEL" and our favorite Jewish producers has brought us another hebrewish Bread to savor on this year. The finale left us with many questions and here they all are:

• Did the Electro-Magnet Blow up when the fail-safe went off? Isn't this what Kelvin was suggesting? Whatever happened, a bright light surrounded the entire island and a sound that I couldn't even begin to explain in words. But when the camera fell on Henry Gale there can be no mistaking that he was not surprised or scared that this event happened. Was this part of his plan all along? Afterall, he convinced Locke that nothing happened when that button was pushed.
• Oh and we also see the crazy Quarantine Hatch Door (must've been the won they already blew off the hatch) fall from very high in the sky, indicating that is one strong magnet! One that could possibly pull apart a plane!
• Eko, Charlie, Locke, and Desmond were in that hatch when this all went down. We've only confirmed that Charlie survived (and he got some kissing action from Claire in the process...way to go Charlie! Don't think we've forgotten what you did to Sun!). But as I stated earlier, it seems we have more of Desmond's story to tell, which might suggest that he is NOT dead yet. And well, how can you have LOST without Locke? And it seems to soon to part ways with Eko. Plus you don't want to kill ALL season 2 characters off. Then it just looks obvious of what the writers' intent of adding cast was.
• So we leave our survivors in disarray all over the island. 3 possible survivors in the hatch, 3 heading to captivity with the Others, 3 in a sailboat hanging out up north, and the rest sitting and waiting at the beach camp.
• But somewhere COLD there are some crazy people speaking Russian or Portuguese (someone on preston and steve said Portuguese. Definitely sounds more Russian to me) and playing Chess. They detect some Electromagnetic activity
  
  

  text on monitor"
  Delivery Subsystem 550 Requested action taken:> Received: by 10.48.24.11 with SMTP id
  m12mr1134484nfg:> Received: by 10,29.30.1 with HTTP> Message-ID: Subject:
  AUTOMATED TEST> MIME-Version: 1.0> Content-Transfer-Encoding:
  quoted-printable> Content-Disposition: inline>AUTOMATED TEST -1bbybby
  77111790v****systems normal**** 76555-222-0zzzzzzz330 7711346 ****systtems
  normal**** QX10022005-CHITEST COMPLETE**********************Delivery Subsystem
  550 Requested action taken:> Sent: by 10.28.224.18 with SMTP id
  m11mr1134484nfg> Sent: to 10,49.31.1 with HTTP
  
  Electromagnet

• They make a phone call to whom? PENNY WIDMORE and say "I think we found it" Wow. So much to speculate with this little tiny scene. First of all, we finally put a nail in the coffin once and for all that this show is NOT about purgatory! We finally have seen the PRESENT DAY off of the island! They were able to pull off 2 seasons without showing what was going on off the island. Pretty impressive stuff. It would seem that Penny has been studying possibly some of her Daddy dearest's business because some unusual events have been happening. Planes disappearing, Sailboats gone missing. Sure it's all speculation, but we know that Penny is looking for Desmond and hasn't given up hope that he's alive. Will they attempt to send a rescue party? Hmmm I wonder if this is why Henry is convinced that Michael will find rescue because of what showed up on the monitors up at the NORTH POLE? (i'm just going to assume we're talking about Magnetic North...and not just some random blizzardy cold place. I guess Antarctica might make MORE sense since it's closer to where the island SHOULD be). So maybe Michael and Walt WILL get off of the island and we'll see more of their role with Penny and company? I dunno...seems a bit strange. But Henry (or his superiors) seems to have a whole plan schemed. And activating the Magnet seemed to be part of that plan.

One more question to ponder this summer. Let's just say for a moment that Locke WAS actually crippled, Rose HAD Cancer, Jin was infertile.....and the Electromagnet cured them from these issues. What happens when the magnet no longer exists? Will we see Locke in a wheelchair next season? Will Rose be sick? You get the point. There still is more going on than meets the eye. And I still think these people have been recruited for some reason or another. Maybe it's not for an experiment as we've been led to believe, but there is a reason all of these people are on that island. And damn it, I'm going to figure it out one of these days!

For now, all we can do is speculate all summer. Shouldn't be too tough! I'm sure I'll be analyzing this finale over and over again until I can get my hands on the season 2 DVD. But wow...what a crazy season finale. Again, I apologize for the huge write-up. I could've just typed the script up and it may have been shorter! But I also apologize for the delay in getting it to you. I'm sure I'll think of more theories over time, and I'll just post in comments here. Please don't let me have written this all for nothing! Share your thoughts and theories on the finale too!

By the way - Scavenger Hunt:www.hansocareers.com I haven't even looked at it yet. Go to town. If i find anything significant out from this whole Lost Experience, I'll post stuff on the blog this summer.

Hope you guys have all enjoyed the blogs for the majority of season 2. I only wish I had thought of it sooner as all of those work emails from season 1 and season 2 episodes 1-6 have been purged and long gone by now. But I'm glad that this blog has seen some mild success. We've grown from an audience of 5-10 to possibly 700 (and that's not counting those who are printing it off and sharing it with co-workers! Hi Mom! Hi Dad!). Very hard to believe that 700 people are reading this thing....especially since barely anyone makes comments! But I expect the usual suspects to chime in with your thoughts! I'm counting on you to make this an exciting summer of Lost discussion! I'll play MY part!

It's been fun, and I hope that I'll be able to keep up this momentum come season 3. Until then, GET LOST!!!! (Zing!)

Finale Blog WILL be delayed but DISCUSS anyway!

Hello Losties! I know I've warned you all already, but this is a confirmation that I will not have time to draft up the Season 2 Finale Blog (episodes 23/24 Live Together, Die Alone) during the workday of Thursday, May 26th. Crazy thing, my JOB is actually getting in the way! Go Figure! But, alas, I am posting this mini write-up to try and fill the void in your lives while we wait.

So please, discuss the finale to your heart's desires. If you have any questions you'd like me to try and address in the write-up, post them here too! You can look for the write-up to go up sometime Thursday night, so there will be plenty of reading material on Friday morning as you start waiting for your Memorial Day vacations to begin!

Here's a summary of my thoughts after just watching and not really thinking about the episode in too much detail yet. I will expand on these thoughts and more in our Finale Write-up!


WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!

• Woaaaaa How about the Hatch stuff? What on earth happened there? What was that crazy Light? Did Henry know what it was?
• Green Eagle yelling "Hurley?" Was it a Philadelphia Eagle?
• Michael and Walt try to leave the Island again. Will it work THIS time? (yeah right)
• Crazy WIDMORE family! It's President Palmer's old Vice-President and Caleb Nichol from The OC! And the girl in the picture, Penny, is that girl from HBO's "Mind of the Married Man"
• Are Locke, Eko, and Desmond alive? The former 2 have to be, right?
• What about the crazy Russians in the North Pole (well that's my initial guess anyway) searching for electromagnetic activity? (Hmm North Pole, Magnets....)
• Did we or Did we NOT find out how the Plane crashed?
• Do we like Zeke or Tom better? Klugh or Bea?
• Crazy Seargent (General or whatever) from the Gulph War that encountered Sayid is Kelvin....woa!!!
• Libby's dead husband's name is "David." is that related to imaginary DAVE that Hurley has been seeing?
• So is Henry the head cheese of the Others or the "Good Guys" as he calls them? Where are they going to take our 3 main heroes?

Was it a more satisfying season ender for you guys than season 1's? Feel free to post your own comments on the finale, and I'll get you guys a full (LONG-WINDED) blog as soon as humanly possible. Thanks for your patience!

"Lost" Season 2 Episode 22 - Three Minutes

Wait for it.......it's coming..........just one.....more.........second.......... WOW!!!!!!

Ok, so it wasn't a "WOW" type of episode, but I have a reputation to keep these days! Can't upset the readers! Tonight's episode filled in a lot of the missing holes that were created during Michael's absence (if you read the spoilers from last week's blog, you would've already known that!). We got to see a new Flashback format (the 2nd different kind we were treated to this season), and we got to learn a LITTLE bit more about the so-called "OTHERS." I put them in quotes, because a certain boy has revealed a bit more information to us that really gets us no closer to knowing the truth!

So, I realize the blogs have slowly been growing with each passing new episode. I will try my best to control myself with this one. And there is no better episode to attempt a smaller write-up than with last night's. I can make no promises for the FINALE RECAP except that it will be delivered later than usual. I'm sorry! But come on you have like 5 months to read it! Here I go Rambling again. Let's get into some stuff from tonight's episode!

ABC Recap: http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/episodes/222.html
Watch Free Online: http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing

Charlie/Claire (AND MUCH MUCH MORE!)

• Okay so Charlie found some VACCINE on the Food pallet (don't even know how to spell that word). Did he know that Claire was looking for this vaccine in the other hatch? The one Ethan was injecting the baby? Again, is this the same thing Desmond was injecting himself with? Whatever Charlie knew...apparently it helped him get back in Claire's good graces. He even tried the stuff on himself. I figured he knew how to use the "needle gun" (for lack of remembering the actual name) by prior heroin experimentations...
• Speaking of Heroin...VINCENT THE DOG has a few cameos tonight. One where he becomes the smartest (and most evil) dog in the world by bringing a Mary statue to Charlie. But Charlie was able to resist temptations this time as he threw away the rest of the drugs with Locke overlooking. But I don't think Charlie will be out of the doghouse for long.....there's still that whole SUN situation that needs to be resolved. Something tells me that may be coming back to haunt him next week.
• Speaking of Locke. After his doubting of faith with the hatch (which Eko has contently taken over Locke's Role of the FAITH guy) he cuts his splints and limps away from the funeral (he didn't go to the funeral, did he?). Just as Rose had suggested, it wasn't going to take long for Locke to heal. Was he inspired by Charlie's tossing of the dolls into the Ocean? Or maybe he's going to give the island one more chance? I think he's going to need a bit more convincing. And maybe that's where he was going? Is he taking Henry up on his offer? "I came to get you" That dude wants some serious answers.

War Preparation (Jack and Crew)
So the main boys are ready to go kick some OTHERS' BUTTS. A few things to take note of here.

• Sawyer bluntly tells Jack "I screwed her" then tries to speak in a language Jack would understand "We got Caught in a Net." probably the funniest dialogue of the night. Sawyer apparently things Jack and Kate had relations out in the jungle when they found Walt. Sure...it was kinda a "Joey from Friends" moment for our boy James Ford, but gosh darnit (redneck talk) if I didn't find it hysterical!
• Sawyer also scores some points with the Heroic/Sometimes Manic Doctor by calling him the closest thing to a friend he has on the island. Really didn't see THAT one coming. But I guess I should've. The people you pretend to despise the most, are sometimes the people that you admire the most. (Yeah...I'm all ready to start dishing out therapy sessions now!)
• Sayid has a run-in with Michael (which we'll kinda touch on below) which is enough to convince him that Michael is not the same as we last saw him. Sayid tells Jack that Michael is compromised. Apparently they're going to devise a plan where Michael thinks he's in control. I'm guessing Sayid will be taking a 2nd Party and tailing our Main Characters. I think it's a safe bet that SOMEONE of this WAR Party is going to perish the ultimate sacrifice. All my money is on Michael. And while I would hate to see Sayid bite the bullet, it seems like he might be the most expendable at this point from the cast. I can't see them getting rid of The Red beret though. Not in season 2!

Michael - 13 Days Ago - Present
Okay, so I'm merging the Flashback and Present Michael stuff because they are pretty closely tied together.

• Apparently Michael got snagged up by Zeke and crew not long after he left. He talked to someone on the computer that claimed to be Walt and rushed out to find him. The flashbacks were interspersed with scenes from THE HUNTING PARTY episode so we could follow along to when these Michael events took place.
• Michael got to hang out with the likes of ZEKE ("We need him!"), Alex ("How is Claire? Did she have the baby?"), and Pickett (yeah...don't know who Pickett is but Erikah Badu mentioned him. )
  
• Okay okay, it's not Erikah Badu, but come on! Miss Klugh has a striking resemblance! What a freaky lady Klugh is! (I checked the closed captioning for the spelling. I'm not THAT good!) I'm just going to list all of the questions she asked Michael rapidly upon meeting him
  
  Is Walt your Biological Son
  How old was he when he began to speak?
  Did he ever suffer from Illness growing up? Headaches? Fainting Spells?
  Did he Appear in places he wasn't supposed to be? DUM DUM DUUUUUUUUM!!! You say you were half-way around the world...did you see him?
  
  Crazy questions. Implies that Michael may have seen a vision of Walt during his time away from him (pre-island) Not sure what the illness stuff is referring to. Biological Son, maybe they suspect Michael had similar "powers?" We are also reminded of the Images we've seen of Walt ON the island with the Reverse Talking. Appearances to Shannon...and then also Sayid when Shannon gets shot. Nothing really explained here. But it is stressed how IMPORTANT Walt is to the OTHERS. Apparently the questions continue with Michael for another 10 days.
• Then Miss Badu gives Michael a list with 4 names
  Jack Shepard, Kate Austen, James Ford, Hugo Reyes
  
  Few things interesting about this. All 4 of these crazy kids have seen VISIONS on the Island. Jack saw his Dad, Kate saw the Horse (which became real though), Sawyer saw the Horse (anything else? he did have the run-in with the Boar...but that was real I think), Hurley saw Dave. Other than that....I can think of nothing else except it's 3 of the main characters and Hurley. But KLUGH wants these people recruited by any means possible. How do the OTHERS know their real names? (JAMES FORD) This goes back to my whole recruitment theory for the island. How else would they have the information? Unless the OTHERS are being supplied with the information from a higher power? Perhaps the OTHERS are part of the Dharma experiment too? I would say maybe they're bringing in these 4 because they can be considered GOOD PEOPLE but there's too much to argue against that with Kate and Sawyer. Let's just let the show take it's course and maybe we'll find out next week!
• 3 Minutes (the episode title) apparently refers to the 3 minutes that Michael had to talk to Walt. Which is crazy since they may have talked for about 1 minute. What was revealed by Walt's chances to talk?
  
  Walt: They're not who they say they are. They're pretending! They make me take tests! Help me! (Klugh responds "do you want me to put you in the room again?") Ahh more questions to ponder. What kind of tests are they putting Walt through? He looked genuinely scared (for the Stellar Acting abilities (sarcasm) possessed by Malcom David Kelly (Walt)) of the Others. Some have suggested that Walt was TOLD to say those things to make Michael think he has no choice but to recruit Jack and crew. Maybe he was. But the whole "put you in the room again" had my head spinning. What is going on in that room? If this Michael/Walt story is going to be closed next week, we may not have long to wait before we get some answers.
• And Michael also said he'd bring back the 4 in exchange for the BOAT (because he wants off that island with his son!) That same boat that we saw in the season finale last year. I don't think we saw anyone accept those terms.
• So let's backtrack and talk about what we learned when we saw the OTHERS' Camp. We see the new Dharma Station. Looks like the logo is the classic octagon with a rectangle in the middle. Your guess is as good as mine what that means.
  
• How about the Island's mock Stonehenge? Well it look like ruins of some sort. We see a window and a couple walls. What could this imply? I have no thoughts.
  
• I will admit when I falsely predict things. I thought we'd see the Others leading Michael to Jack and Kate when Jack was screaming in the jungle. That never happened. But we did get to see what led up to Michael showing up there.

Funeral & Surprises

• I'm sorry, but some of the acting in this episode was laughable. Once Jack said that Hurley was going to give the Eulogy for Libby, I knew we were going to be in for some unintentional comedy. And it's times like these I wish the blog had an "AUDIO" feature because I would rehash this scene for us all to indulge. "LIBBY WAS A PSYCHOLOGIST! OR A PSYCHIATRIST! OR SOMETHING! SHE WAS MY FRIEND!!!" lol....I'm sorry. It was a good time. But come on...even Jack's speech about Ana Lucia "Ana Lucia was a woman of few words, so I'm going to take a page out of her book. Rest in peace!" I remembered what he said last night, but now that'll have to do. Someone can feel free to correct me in comments.
• But NOTHING...and I say NOTHING compares to Sun's shocking revelation that she forgot English and was trying to remember the word for what she saw in the water.....and then exclaimed "BOAT!!! BOAT!!!! BOAT!!!" wow....good times. Maybe we can't blame the actors. It looked like a new director had taken the reigns for this episode....but that was one painful scene. So what was sun referring to when she so convincingly said "BOAT?"
• You guessed it. A Sailboat. My first thoughts are that this is Desmond's sailboat. We've all be wondering where he went running off to. He took a bunch of supplies and fled the hatch. And he arrived to the island via Sailboat (from his trip around the world). Maybe he took the supplies and has been living on his sailboat for a month. We'll find out next week!
  

Scavenger Hunt:

Commerical this week was paid for by Jeep and here's the site referenced: www.letyourcompassguideyou.com

I looked at it briefly and I didn't feel like figuring it out. Anyone out there bored enough to try?

Season 3 Rumors:

Due to fan protests this year with the many reruns, Lost is considering airing episodes in 2 chunks. 7 Episodes straight in the fall, a 13 week break, and then non-stop episodes upon returning (which would be about 17 episodes). I'm sure this will still annoy people, but I think it might be a better solution. And with the writers having this information in advance, they can make sure there is one doozy of a cliffhanger after that 7th episode to keep people coming back for more in 13 weeks!

Well it's finally here. The 2-Hour Explosive and Supposedly shocking Season Finale with Cliffhangers to have us talking all summer and beyond. I have faith Lost won't disappoint! We'll all have our eyes glued to the TV next Wednesday to find out for ourselves!

So, that's all I got for this week. Like I said before, be patient next week. It definitely won't be Thursday morning when you'll get the write-up. I'll try to get it to you by the afternoon. If not, we're looking at a THURSDAY NIGHT Read! But I want to give the blog the time it deserves, so be patient. If you're lucky, it may actually take you 5 months to read it! Have a great day!

AND POST COMMENTS!

"Lost" Season 2 Episode 21 - ?

Alright....different kind of "WOW" this week. Seems like there are 2 kinds of Lost episodes that will come our way from week to week (or month to month depending on reruns!) There are the straight-forward suspenseful thriller kind of episodes. Then there are the episodes that CONFUSE THE BEJEEZUS out of us! Thus, we have the aptly named "?" episode. Now, obviously the episode was named this due to the oddly timed search for the "question mark hatch," which we will delve into in a bit. They also named the episode with the "?" due to the fact that the episode was originally supposed to be directed by Darren Arrenovsky (I'm not going to pretend I know how to spell it) who wrote and directed the film "PI" (now picture the symbol for PI, and then you'll kinda see where they were going with it!) Unfortunately, the acclaimed director was unable to take on the reigns due to last minute conflicts. But, I like to think that they also named the episode "?" because it raised a bunch more questions than it answered, in true Lost Fashion! Maybe we'll get some more answers this year. Maybe not. But what it did do was reinforce some of the mystical nature in Lost where there seems to be some things going on that can't be explained by UN-supernatural events! We, as viewers, know by now that everything WILL be able to be explained, as the producers have told us. But in the meantime, we're faced with some perplexing "?'s" coming out of the episode formerly named as Prince (well it really wasn't, but how can you have a symbol discussion without talking about Prince!?)

Ok, so here are the links to the ABC Recap and to view the episode online if you so choose:
http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing
http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/episodes/221.html

Here we go!

The Hatch Saga Continues

We return to see our heroes heading back to the hatch rather quickly to try and put a stop to any Shoot-Out that was going to happen! Too late guys! We see Michael trying to cover his tracks, we get a confirmation on Ana Lucia's expiration, but we find out that Libby is still alive! This allows us to put the attack on the others on hold for an episode while Jack tends to the wounded, adds some emotional weight to what's at stake, and allows Eko and Locke to go on an adventure. Here's what came out of the Hatch Story:

• We find out Sawyer's stash of Drugs and Guns has been in his tent all along. And of course Jack sending Kate along on this mission only brings Kate and Sawyer closer together again. Smart move Jack!
• Jack gets Libby High on Heroin for her final moments.
• Michael seems worried that Libby is going to rat him out for killing her!
• Our favorite Hatch prisoner is GONE by the way!
• Hurley delivers the most emotional line of the night with his apology for forgetting the blankets. Poor guy, finally found a girl and then his "BAD LUCK" takes her away from him. Hmmm....Was it those crazy lottery numbers again?
• Libby's final word "MICHAEL!" with a scared look on her face. And idiot Jack doesn't catch on. It would seem he will need Sayid's help next week in convincing him on what's going on.

Yeah, I'm stretching with that storyline. Not much really happened. We were in a holding pattern while the Eko and Locke story took center stage. So let's just move on!

Dreams

So these were some messed up dreams. So, we've seen several dreams now over the course of 2 seasons that have actually led people to do crazy things. And the content of these dreams are usually pretty factual. How is this happening? Well, some may argue that all of the survivors are already in a dream state and that someone is feeding them information from other lives. Don't know if I want to buy that theory just yet, but sometimes it's tough not to! How else are they having these dreams and hallucinations? I mean these dreams are very DETAILED! Before we get into Eko and Locke's Dream let's recap some old dreams

• Boone hallucinates and sees Shannon shot to death in season 1 (or mauled by a polar bear). She is shot to death in season 2.
• Locke Dreams of a Nigerian Drug Plane crashing into a Tree. And also hear's Boone saying "Jill falls up the stairs, Jill Falls down the stairs" (or something like that)...a very personal memory of Boone's.
• Charlie has some crazy dreams about baptizing Aaron. Well, that was just a weird episode, so let's skip it!
• Hurley has a dream with Jin Speaking english (well...if he does, he hides it well!) but where he's drinking from a Milk Carton with a picture of "WALT" and the text "MISSING" on it. Meanwhile, Hurley was not informed that the Raft had blown up yet or that Walt was indeed kidnapped by the Others.

Crazy stuff right? Well add on the crazy dreams that Eko and Locke had tonight, and you got one hell of a mystery brewing!

Eko's Dream

• Eko has a Vision of Ana Lucia who is telling him to have John lead him to the "question mark."
• Slowly but surely, we see Ana Lucia spitting up blood and looking very weak.
• A flash of images go by. I paused the TiVo and wrote them down (you can also go to lost.cubit.net Investigations and see all of the images)
  Plane Crash (tailies), smoke monster, body in water, Cross, the Others' feet, teddy bear, Locke, Nigerian Plane, Blind folded guy, Dharma Swan symbol, the Orientation guy (more on him in a bit) and brother Yemi
• Brother Yemi says that he's on the island and also says that John should lead him to question mark and to bring an Ax.

Locke's Dream

• Locke has a dream with Eko's Brother luring Eko up the vines of a cliff. I believe these are the same vines that Boone climbed to get into the plane. At the top of the cliff Yemi is sitting in a lawn chair and tells John to wake up (I think...I'm drawing blanks!) and then Eko falls to his death. John Wakes up.
• This dream leads John to be paranoid to a similar outcome for Eko that Boone met.

Eko's Flashback
So, in Ana Lucia fashion, we continue Eko's story in his 2nd flashback to see how he ended up on the Plane to our favorite getaway island! Eko's "mission" as a "priest" (which we confirm he is only pretending to be) somehow led him to be serving time in Australia, and he was in dire need to go to the United States. I don't know if we really find out WHY he wanted to go there. I think some blanks were left intentionally which lets us know his story is not finished just yet! (as Ana Lucia's was)

we interrupt this Blog to report that Preston and Steve JUST got J.J. Abrams to confirm something on the phone. The quote says this
"This is J.J. Abrams and LOST is NOT Purgatory!"

I know that our following of readers here are informed enough to know that this was dismissed ages ago. But it's always nice to hear straight from the Creators of the show!

Ok back to the blog!

So where were we? oh right, Australia. Eko is getting all of his ducks in a row to flee Australia and head to the states. But someone tries to delay this with a "MIRACLE." That's right, someone's daughter apparently drowns, dies and then comes back to life during an autopsy. We learn some interesting stuff here, and I have tons of pictures (as always you can click on them and zoom for a larger look!) Here we go:

• We get to hear the coroner's tape recording of the autopsy where the girl begins to scream at the end. Pretty freaky stuff, but nothing really confirms that she was ever dead. Unless we want to believe the coroner. The image below is of the medical report underneath the tape recorder. It seems to be a production error as it mentions Honolulu, Hawaii where the show is filmed. Nothing too exciting, just worth mentioning!
  
• Eko's Fake Passport contains the information that includes the infamous numbers:
  
  4 = April and 2004
  8 = August 23
  15 = April 15
  16 = April 16
  23 = August 23
• 
• Anyone recognize the father of the resurrected Daughter? It was none other than the crazy psychic that told Claire that she must raise her son and that she MUST take Flight 815 to Los Angeles. His name? Richard Malkin. What he tells Eko is that he's a fraud. He gathers intelligence on his clients and then exploits it to his advantage. So what is he telling us here? Is what he told Claire not right either? Is he doing the same thing with Eko? Does he know that Eko's Brother died and he wants to convince Eko that he is getting visited by his brother from the beyond? Did Malkin use his daughter in the process to succeed in this? In previous blogs I've touched on the fact that I thought Malkin was involved in recruiting people for the island (mainly Claire). He knew Flight 815 was going to end up on that Island where Claire would have to raise the baby. Some will argue that maybe Malkin was a fraud until he met Claire and actually felt something real. I don't buy it! I think he's playing them both! Naturally, I do because it plays into my whole "recruiting people for the island" theory. Hopefully we're going to find out if my recruitment theory is on the right path by the season finale! Tons of questions...no answers (yet)!
  
• But continuing with the concept that everything is plausible, we have Malkin's Daughter meet up with Eko in the airport where she tries to prove that she DID in fact have a near-death experience. She claims that she saw his brother and that he had the following message for Eko "You were a good priest." Something like this could lead Eko to actually BECOME a man of faith and believe that his brother IS speaking to him from the beyond when he gets to the island! Could lead the man to mourn people he kills, to build a church. I think Malkin told Eko the truth that he IS a fraud. He gathered intel on Eko, and used it against him to give him purpose when he arrived on the Island. May be a stretch, but it sounds plausible! Come on, people coming back to life? The producers already promised us NO ZOMBIES on LOST! Once people are dead, the only way they come back is in Flashbacks and Dreams!
• Also we see Libby in the flashback breaking up a potential fight. I didn't see much significance!

THE PEARL!
So, the major portion of this episode dealt with Eko and Locke finally getting to share an adventure together. As I said before, this was an oddly timed adventure considering the tragedy in the Swan Station. This is why Eko lured John (based on the dream) out of the Hatch to help track down the "others." At least this is what he claims until Locke starts questioning what is driving Eko deeper and deeper into the jungle. What we get to see in this story is how Locke has been losing faith ever since mindlessly pushing that button and having Henry meddle with his mind. It seems now that Eko is here to help restore John's faith. Long-story short, they do find the "?" Hatch from the Map but the fun was in getting there and what we found!

• Locke called Boone's Death a "Sacrifice the Island Demanded" almost realizing how ridiculous it sounded after he said it. Another sign of him losing faith in everything.
• Anyone get a sense of deja vu when Locke was watching Eko climb up the cliff? Yep...he laid on the ground quite like that (also with bad legs) and watched Boone go up there. This time however, Eko made it up top Okay. And how convenient is it that another hatch was waiting for them right where they found the Drug Plane....and right where Eko's brother was found? And of course, when Eko looked from the top of the cliff, he saw the salted earth formed, you guessed it! a QUESTION MARK!
  

We Saw Locke grow eager with anticipation as they discovered the new hatch, hoping to find the answers he was looking for. What did we find out? We found out that they were in Station 5 - The Pearl.

Here's what was inside:

• 9 TV Screens, an Air Shoot (chute?) like you see at a Bank Drive-through, a VCR, an Orientation Video Tape, some smoked cigarettes, empty notebooks, a computer and printer, 2 recliners and a video camera
• Of course, what seems to be a CIG and Ashes on first glance, may not be. But I have no idea what it is. lost.cubit.net felt the need to point it out though..so I will too!
• When Locke turned all of the TV's on, 1 gave static, many didn't even go on, and then one showed the Swan Station and Jack walking around. Before we even get into the orientation video, there is speculation that if these cameras have an actual video feed, maybe there will be a way to rewind and determine what actually happened in the Hatch during the shoot-out. crazy stuff!
• So the Orientation Video. Some things to note. The Korean Guy calls himself
  Dr. Mark Whitman, however on the Swan video he calls himself Dr. Marvin Candle. Sure looks like the same guy doesn't it? It is also noted that the video is from 1980. Not sure when the Swan video was from. But Preston pointed out that the Guy had one prosthetic hand in the Swan Video, and here he has 2 fully functioning hands. I don't recall that. I'll have to go back and watch ORIENTATION again! ugh
• Also in the video we are told that the mission for the residents of this hatch are to work in 8 hour shifts and observe everything happening in the other hatches. And note down any subtleties that they find odd and send the reports into the Air-Mail thing. We pretty much are led to believe that the residents pushing the button in the Swan Station are guinea pigs who are meant to believe what they are doing is important, but it really isn't (something Jack has been saying all along) and something Locke begins to believe. However, Echo, all faithed up due to visions of his brother believes this video only reinforces the importance of pushing the button. Locke has a nervous breakdown during this scene about his whole life is a joke. That guy has some serious issues. All very interesting stuff....but we still have questions on everything! The producers have told us that the story of the hatch will be completely told by the end of Season 2. Here's hoping!
• I think Korean Doctor guy also made a reference to a boat (or river?) that they should be taking after their job is completed? I didn't bother to watch again yet to make sure I heard exactly what he said. But I'll just jot it down here.
• As for the Camera in the PEARL hatch, is someone still watching them too? crazy stuff.
• Locke also sends his drawing of the map through the Air-Chute. What was the objective of this? To see if it worked? or to let someone know he's there?
• The other computer's function seems to be to print logs of when people have successfully pushed the button in the Swan Hatch. The numbers on the report show all similar numbers except the iteration of when they executed the resetting of the clock. This report SHOULD be able to tell us if Henry did in fact push that button or not. Also, is this the computer that "WALT" talked from? or is it somewhere else? I'm guessing there has to be some other station (maybe the one Michael discusses) that has a computer as well.
  

Scavenger Hunt
Okay new Hanso commercial! Well same one, but they added a website to this one.
www.sublymonal.com If you go to this website (paid for by sprite), you click on the screens one at a time. # of clicks go in the following progression 4-8-15-16-23-42 (I think...I don't think I clicked on any of them 42 times...but this is what I read)....you hear the Lost sound effect, and then it gives you a code "Heir Apparent" that you supposedly need to enter on http://www.thehansofoundation.org/ somewhere. I haven't really looked into it much. But there's some info! Also http://www.thelostexperience.com/ is tracking this scavenger hunt. If you're lazy like me, they'll find out all the answers for you!
Spoilers!
Ok, I am privy to some information about our final episodes. As always, I'll black them out and you can just highlight them if you want to read!

• Next week is a Michael Flashback where we will learn what happened to him on the island when he left the survivors. This should play into my theory that we'll see that scene with Jack screaming again from a different perspective!
• The finale will feature AT LEAST a Desmond Flashback, and supposedly Libby will be featured in it.
• The ultimate major cliffhanging part of the finale is still kept under wraps. The only people that know about it are the cast members that were involved for the filming. It has been referenced as (THE Challah). It is rumored to be a more satisfying ending than last year's cliffhanger with the Raft blowing up, Walt being kidnapped, and looking into the Hatch (named THE BAGEL!). This is in direct response to people's outcries from last year's finale being a disappointment (hell, I loved it!) They still say it will end on a cliffhanger, but apparently one more satisfying. Take from that what you will!

Okay, I think I wrote enough on this episode. Next week's episode looks like it'll be a bit more actioned packed and it should set up our Season finale pretty well. Just a side-note, these final 2 blogs may become a bit delayed due to my increased popularity at job #1. And because I'm learning that these write-ups are becoming increasingly more complicated and taking a lot more time to write! But be patient with me! I am just as anxious to write them as you are to read them! I will do my best to meet up with the demands! So, with that, I will say Have a good day and see you next week!

"Lost" Season 2 Episode 20 - Two For the Road

Should I start with my trademark "WOW" this week? Yeah, I think it's "Wow" worthy! Another spectacular episode! But I'll put the shocking ending and twists into the "We should've seen it coming" category. I'll get into the explanations of why in our favorite post-Lost Day analysis session below. But even when we should've seen it coming, I still didn't and I still LOVED it! But before we get into that fantastic discussion, let me just revisit something I said in the last blog:

"MICHAEL'S BACK! But is he back as the same Michael we've known in the past? I'm not so sure. Based on what we see of the next episode....Michael is telling them "I saw the others....they are unarmed....we can take them!!!" Guess who else is unarmed as he stumbled upon Jack and Kate? Yep, Michael did not seem to have his crazy rifle with him. Here's my guess on what's going to happen. The Others promised Michael that he would get Walt back if he helped set up a trap for his fellow survivors. "

Hmmmm....Something to think about as we dive deeper into this week's episode. Here's the recap for you crazies who missed the show. Oh and also if you don't have itunes or TiVo and still missed the show. ABC.com is letting you watch the latest episodes of their big shows online FOR FREE! (the catch? you have to watch commercials! But with LOST, it might be a good idea! I'll get to that in a minute!)

ABC Recap: http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/episodes/220.html
Watch Episode: http://dynamic.abc.go.com/streaming/landing

Well it's tough to break this episode into categories because all of the sub-plots were interweaving! But I'll give it a shot!

The Flashback

So everyone's favorite character to hate is back for another round of flashbacks. Of course it really didn't seem like her flashback at all. The main story for Ana Lucia was a tale of redemption for shooting the man that killed her baby. And she went on a whirlwind (seemingly pointless) trip to Australia to find herself. But the main point of the flashback seemed to revolve around getting more information on Jack's Dad (Christian, is it? Let's just call him Jack's Dad). Apparently, he has had quite some interaction with the survivors of Flight 815. Kinda makes you wonder if HE is one of the masterminds behind the whole thing! (oooh the chilling "hallucination" that Jack saw of him early in Season 1 comes to mind!) As soon as I saw him recruiting Ana Lucia to be his bodyguard (after she quit the Police Force to become an Airport Metal Detector Inspector (yeah I just wrote that for the ridiculous rhyme scheme)) for this crazy trip to Australia, I was hoping we were going to get to see how Jack's Dad met his death. But alas, this will be saved for another season. Instead we got to see the steps that led up to Jack's father being on the greatest Drunken Stupor of anyone's life and his run-in with Sawyer (which we saw in a Season 1 Sawyer flashback) at the random bar in Sydney. So what did we see and/or learn in this flashback?

• Jack's Dad went by the alias TOM and he gave Ana Lucia the name of "SARAH." Now did everyone catch that Sarah just happens to be the name of Jack's Wife? (well...ex-wife at the time) Well if you didn't, now you know! And did you see the way he said "we'll call you Saaaaarah" ? Okay, he may not have said it like that, but it seemed like there's a bit more to that story. I wonder if the "OTHER MAN" in Sarah's life might just be Jack's Dad? We thought Desmond for awhile, and we should find out more about him before the season's end. But, based on all the Jack flashbacks and all of his problems with his Father, this would just add another level if Sarah was involved with both of them. I know, I'm just going off one word that he said, but it was pretty effective! Why would he call Ana Lucia, Sarah? Was he really looking for a bodyguard for this trip? Or was he looking for something from Ana Lucia that Sawyer got in this episode instead? (more in a bit on that!)
• More trivial numbers stuff. Ana Lucia's Cop Car had the NUMBERS on it.
• Also Patsy Cline was heard on the Radio "Walkin After Midnight" Lost loves their Patsy Cline. And once again we are reminded that patsy ALSO died in a plane crash!
• Was this the first flashback that took place IMMEDIATELY where another flashback left off? I'm thinking it was. Because most of the Season 1 Flashbacks dealt with how each survivor ended up on Flight 815, and their next flashbacks went further into the past. But, Ana Lucia's first flashback was further back, and THIS one dealt with her getting on that plane. A little meaningless Trivia for you there. But hey, you never know when this stuff will show up in an upcoming edition of LOST SceneIT! And thanks to me, you'll be ready!
• Okay, so the whole confrontation with the lady in Australia at the house. Obviously, there is more to this story. The lady kinda resembled Claire and Jack's Dad was saying that he had a Daughter and that he pays the mortgage on the house. Rumors are that the lady might be Claire's Mom...making Jack and Claire half-bro/sis's....but don't hold any weight to that just yet! But then again, why would they introduce a major plot point that Jack's father has a Daughter and that Jack may have a potential Step-sister, if she WASN'T on the island? And by process of elimination, who else could the daughter be? Kate? eewwwww I don't think so. Sun? (that's funny!) The other thing is that Claire is the only native OF Australia in the main cast. And her mother probably lives in Australia too! Yeah...for someone who doesn't want to hold any weight to the rumor, I'm sure going out of my way to convince everyone that it's true! Ever notice when I write these blogs, that I am thinking up this stuff as I write? If you didn't, now you know!
• Just as a confirmation that Jack's Dad was heading to the same bar he talked to Sawyer in, we see Sawyer run into the car door as Jack's Dad was getting out. "Hey I'm walking here!"
• As I said, this was a tale of Redemption for Ana Lucia, and an effort on the writer's part to make us feel sympathetic to what was about to happen to her on the island. But she was inspired in the Airport by Jack's memorable speech about getting his father's body on the plane with the Airport Check-in Lady. We found out that Ana Lucia DID know a bit more about Jack before she ran into him at the bar. Naturally, she didn't know that Jack was talking about the same man that she was "bodyguarding" around. Anyway, she called to apologize to her Mother (chief of police) and that she wanted to come home. She knew that she had killed a man in cold blood and had finally found herself.
• And just a question to end this section of the blog with. Why was Ana Lucia really needed as a Body Guard? To protect Jack's Dad from a potential mother of one of his children? This again, makes me think that he was just looking for an excuse to bring a girl with him (whom he called Sarah) to keep him company and remind him of a prior experience. Kinda reminds me of the whole situation with Locke and how he called the Phone Lady, "Helen" when it wasn't the Real Helen. The real helen left Locke because of his Daddy issues. Oooooh....and Jack has issues with HIS Dad! And Ana Lucia has issues with her MOM! It's all coming full circle! (here I go again thinking about stuff on the fly!)

Ana Lucia's Island Mission/Henry's Revelation

So while Ana Lucia was traipsing around down Under, on the island she was looking for more blood. This would be due to a confrontation with our Hatch Buddy, Henry Gale. After days of starvation and silence, Henry finally spoke out. He was apparently frustrated with Ana Lucia calling HENRY a murderer when Ana was the one who killed 2 of them. In a surprising move (well, surprising if you didn't see the preview), Henry lures Ana Lucia in and almost strangles her to death, calling her a murderer! Locke saves the day with his crutches. After this happens to Ana Lucia and after Michael outlines the plot to get Walt back (last subject area of the blog), Ana Lucia goes on an adventure to get a gun. We also had a very interesting conversation result with Locke and Henry. Here is what transpired:

• Henry tells Ana Lucia that Goodwyn thought that Ana Lucia COULD be a good person, and she ended up killing him. More on the GOOD PEOPLE vs BAD PEOPLE. Didn't Hitler think he was doing the world a favor with his Ethnic Cleansing? It seems like the OTHERS are dillusioned (is that a word?) into this very mindset. Or are THE OTHERS truly a force of good and we've been following around the TRUE ENEMIES for 2 seasons? Thinking like this will make your head spin!
• Ana Lucia and Sawyer have some tiffs in the jungle and end up doing some "Dancing." Man, this is the first action Sawyer has gotten in 2 seasons! (besides his graphic Kiss with Kate in season 1). While Ana probably could've just gotten away with a Kiss for her plot to steal the gun, I guess she wanted a little satisfaction too. Here's the thing, I think we've learned now, once you perform the physical act of Love on LOST ISLAND, your time may be running short! (remember Shannon?) Call it coincidence, call it whatever you want. The facts are there!
• Ana's tale of redemption in the flashback ends with her being unable to finish Henry off. We'll discuss what happens instead, in a little bit!
• With the Henry/Locke conversation we found out (whether true or untrue) that Henry's initial mission was to get Locke. This being prior to being captured by Rousseau. Henry says that if he fails in his mission, he will be killed anyway. The man who runs The Others is a "GREAT MAN." Hanso? Someone else? We still don't know? Hell, maybe it's Henry himself! (suggested by Preston this morning) But what we do find out is that Locke is an important man to the others. Whether they're still playing mind games with him and his whole search for answers, this is clearly the sign that John has been waiting for. We've always expected some changes of allegiance with Locke since season 1, and it looks like we may be on that path again. But Henry also calls Locke one of these so-called "GOOD PEOPLE." And actually, nothing in Locke's flashbacks suggest that Locke is anything BUT a good person who has been used by his "father." But his on-island antics have been less than honorable at times. He got Boone killed, he has lied about the finding of the hatch, he humiliated Charlie in front of Claire and all of the survivors by beating him down. Oh and he also beat up Boone in season 1 and somehow made him hallucinate in seeing Shannon die. (we touched on this last Blog, I believe) Are these all characteristics of a person you would consider good? Meanwhile, we see a direct opposite with Kate. Someone who definitely has a past life of crime who has done nothing but good things since being on the island. People can change. Finally, we saw it beginning last season, but now we are seeing the group divide. And each of them it seems will have justifiable reasons for why they change allegiances (I'm just theorizing now! This is NOT factual!)

Hurley's Romantic Plan

Seems like the Hurley storyline was kinda just thrown in here to give us a bit more Libby/Hurley time before a certain event happened. But what it did was draw a parallel to the Shannon/Sayid picnic extravaganza from season 1. Sure we got some Say Anything references to John Cusack's Boom Box woo'ing with Peter Gabriel. But we did get a couple extra tidbits here to examine:

• Sayid suggests to Hurley of taking Libby to a certain area of the Beach where he took Shannon last season. Little does Hurley know that when Sayid DID take Shannon away, her brother Boone died. Does this suggest that when anyone that wants to have a picnic on the beach, someone will have to suffer for it? Again, nothing concrete here.....but the facts are there! Yes, and I know it would seem rather silly for this to actually be the case. But it is an interesting parallel to season 1.
• Hurley makes a comment to Libby that if he drinks some wine he may get drunk and remember where he knows her from. Libby gave a very awkward look to him before she headed to that Hatch to grab the wine. And with us knowing that Libby was also in that Nut House with Hurley, there is still more story to tell there! So, it seems that we should not assume we've seen the last of Libby!

War Is in the Air.

I know everyone loves how I save the juicy stuff until the end. A War is brewing and Michael returned fueling the fire. Michael discusses a plot to save Walt and sends Jack, Locke and Kate on a trip to try and retrieve the guns to take on the barely armed Others to get into a "HATCH" up North! (Anyone Catch the camera panning to Locke when Michael mentioned this Hatch?) The Survivors are moving towards war and several things happened that will change life on the island forever!

• Michael describes the others exactly how we saw them on the other side of the island, ragged clothes, barefoot, and generally worse off than the survivors. And, of course, barely armed. If you notice, the camera pans to Kate during this discussion who knows a bit more about the others and their "COSTUMES." But nothing really comes out of that.
• Jack, against his own will, apologizes to Locke for being wrong about Henry. He said he should not have gotten in the way of what needed to be done with their prisoner. All that really seems to come out of this interaction is that Locke requests to be included in the plans from here on out. Which means that Locke is part of the plan for the WAR with the Others. Also that there should be a sense of trust between Jack and Locke.
• Locke lies (doh!) to Jack about how Ana Lucia got hurt, after his importance to the Others is revealed by Henry!
• Ana Lucia volunteers to stay behind and watch Henry (after she retrieved the gun from Sawyer) while the braintrust goes to get the guns from Sawyer.
• Jack pulls a gun on Sawyer, burns the manuscript that Sawyer was getting involved in and it is revealed that Ana Lucia got a gun from Sawyer. Locke then is exposed for not being completely honest with Jack (or is he? What exactly does Locke end up telling Jack when he says "there's something I need to tell you")
• Libby heads to the hatch to fetch the wine for her date with Hurley
• Michael is still recovering in the hatch while Ana Lucia is trying to kill Henry but fails due to her conscience. He then talks to Ana Lucia about her situation and then, in true Michael fashion, offers to kill Henry for her. Now, we know how much Michael has developed a Hatred for these others due to them having his Son. So we are meant to believe that he WILL kill Henry once Ana Lucia gives him the gun. We should've known once he asked for the combination (Ana Lucia could've opened the door herself) to the door (18 Right 1 Left 31 Right) that this did not bode well for Ana Lucia. Yet, Ana hands over the gun, Michael says "I'm sorry" and we see where Michael's allegiance now lies. With his son. He shoots and kills Ana Lucia. As if this weren't enough! Libby is now in the hatch, with no wine but Blankets, and comes in to see what the disturbance was....BAM BAM! Two shots into the chest. 2 of our Tailies go down for the count. If anyone saw the 1st one coming, no one saw Libby's coming! And of course....Michael then opens the door looks at Henry and then shoots himself....BOOM.....LOST!

While this is a perfect ending to an episode, the previews ruin things by letting us Know Michael is okay! But what it DOES do is establish me as a GENIUS! (please refer back to my quote in Blue up at the top of this Huge Write-up). Michael performs the classic act of making this string of murders look like it was someone else's doing. That would be Henry's doing. This keeps Michael in the loop with the Survivors and provides the ability for him to lead our heroes to their certain doom. You can thank me for ruining the surprise early! Then again, some will still suggest that Michael is brainwashed. But it sure didn't look like it. It looked like he had no choice because THE OTHERS are running the show and have his Son in custody. I'll tell you another prediction of mine that may or not be shot down in an upcoming episode. Remember when we see Jack last episode screaming at the top of his lungs for the Others to show themselves? I think we will see this scene again, but from another perspective. Either that of Michael's or of the others. And we will see exactly how the Others threatened Michael with Walt for him to carry out this task. If you remember, Jack was convinced that Michael was released into the Jungle and that The Others weren't far behind. This storyline seemed to go nowhere in this episode. We can bet that it will return with more importance!

Okay, so Ana Lucia and Libby were booted off the island. In a year where it seems like The Sopranos is taking tips from the LOST Playbook, it seems like Lost was stealing ideas from The Sopranos. That idea would be, bring extra castmembers onto the show, develop relationships with them and build significance in one season only to kill them off by the end. This leaves the core of your Main Cast intact for seasons to come. This is how the Sopranos has stayed on the air for 3 more seasons than it really should've. Just keep rebuilding the cast and craftily taking them away. Of course one could argue that it is no mere coincidence that Michelle Rodriguez (Ana Lucia) and Cynthia Watros (Libby) were both charged with DUI's during their stay in Hawaii and they were written off the show due to their rifts with the cast! Does it matter either way? What a fantastic way to go! Other reasons we should've seen their deaths coming. Michelle Rodriguez decided to serve 5 days in prison for her DUI instead of community service. These 5 days just happened to be Last week when they were filming the season finale! An ABC spokesperson stated that it wouldn't conflict with the production schedule. Well now we know why! And of course Cynthia Watros is already signed up for a sitcom Pilot on CBS. So we knew her days were numbered too. But then again, we still need to learn more about Libby and her psychotic past! So who knows what will happen.

I know this is getting way too long but there is more I need to share with you!

• This summer the producers of Lost are planning to put together an online LOST scavenger hunt. If you recall last summer, there were websites out there with easter eggs (like the oceanic airlines website) that could get you to season 2 previews and other goodies. Just something to tide us over in the weeks between seasons. But this year, they are trying to slow down our Tivo's by putting clues in commercials for this scavenger hunt. This week's clue? A Hanso Foundation commercial with the phone number 1-877-HANSORG! Good stuff. If you missed the commercial, you can catch it on the newly revamped web page (with tons of more goodies!) www.thehansofoundation.org If I'm really bored and really get into this scavenger hunt this summer. Maybe there will be something to post on the blog during the summer months!
• Season 2 DVD Box Set will be available October 3rd, http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?
  http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5595 This suggests that the Season 3 premiere will probably not happen until Mid-October to Early November. While it will be a painful time off after season 2, this suggests LESS RE-RUNS to deal with once the season begins. I see this as a good thing!
  

Okay, I went overboard this week. But I hope you enjoyed my thoughts. I'd love to hear yours so share away in the comments section. We have 3 more weeks (and 4 hours!) of more Lost to look forward to this season and then I can rest my fingers! Have a great day and I'll see you next week!