We have been told by the powers that be that this season has been split into 3 Story Arcs. 6 hours in the adventures at Temple Land was arc 1. It looks like now we have returned to the beach setting. It actually seems like we're getting a nice tour of the Island for our final season. A little Beach, a little caves, a little Dharmaville, a little Hydra coming up, some Black Rock, some Swan Hatch. The show is definitely coming full circle and we need to be reminded of our past settings to close the loop! This story focused around the redemption of one misunderstood individual, Benjamin Linus. He has been caught in a big lie yet again, and this time it seems his luck is going to run out. In sideways land, we learn some very interesting points about how Ben's life differs, who is still in his life and even a status on the Island! And of course, Jack and Hurley are wandering aimlessly through the jungle but that story gets interesting really quickly. Naturally, I won't be tackling the stories in that order, but I'm sure I won't lose you guys. Let's dive in to the fun!
Flash Sideways - Ben Linus
As we learned in Locke's sideways story in "The Substitute" we see learned that Ben was a European History teacher at a high school in Los Angeles. Naturally, this made perfect sense for one of the people he would be working with at the school but we'll get there. Ben is ultimately provided with an opportunity to advance his career but at the cost of someone else's future. Let's watch it develop and see who we meet along the way!
Dr. Linus
- Ben is teaching his class about Elba, an Island off the coast of Italy where Napoleon was exiled for 300 days. Obviously, ties can be drawn to OUR Island but I will leave that to the master over at Entertainment Weekly, Mr. Doc Jensen. Instead, I will provide you with a Wiki-link about Elba for your reading enjoyment!
- Principal Reynolds looks to be one annoying "D-word that Sideways Hurley likes to use and it's not Dude." That dude has been in a lot of other shows, but most notably I recall him being the D-word in Ghostbusters that was going to shut them down! Good ol' William Atherton! Anyway, he is talking to Ben about budget cuts and how he needs Ben to run detention for him. Unfortunately detention interferes with the History Club that Ben is the moderator for. Reynolds talks down to Ben saying that he keeps that club running for his own personal benefit. To make himself feel needed. So, Ben takes over detention.
- We find out that Ben has a doctorate in History hence the title of the episode. But he looks to be living a pretty miserable existence.
- Guess who else teaches at the high school besides substitute Locke? You guessed it, crazy Science Guy Dr. Arzt! (ironically in the same episode we revisit the Black Rock!) Arzt is staining his shirts and being as geekily amusing as ever. And he is complaining about not having enough money. Arzt is also fed up with Principal Reynolds and the administration for not providing him with the new science lab equipment he needs. Ben goes into his speech about how the kids are suffering and the administration isn't focusing on that.
- John Locke chimes in and tells Ben that he should be the principal. He can tell Ben cares about the place and he does his best Frasier Crane with his "I'm listening" speech.
Sideways Ben's Home Life
- Next we see Ben at home with his father Roger Linus who is still alive and well. At this point in Island time, Roger would have been killed by his son during the purge of the Dharma Initiative.
- We should note that every episode this season in Sideways Land has had some kind of Mirror Moment or Reflection: Jack looks in Mirror in LA X and Lighthouse and notices something off. Kate looks in Mirror and decides to go back to help Claire. Locke is in bathroom, reflection in mirror and calls Jack Shephard's office. Sayid looks in reflection of Nadia's front door (the notes from the script according to Jorge Garcia's podcast Geronimo Jack's Beard suggests that something is "OFF" with the reflection). And now Benjamen Linus sees his reflection in the microwave right before his father starts talking about the Island. COINCIDENCE!?!?!?!? At this point we can say absolutely not! But what is it all about?
- Ben is taking care of his father who seems to have deteriorating health and is in need of oxygen support.
- Ben complains about his job and that he feels like a loser. Roger, tells Ben that this isn't the life that he wanted for him.
- Let's pause: Remember that in season 3's "The Man Behind the Curtain" we found out that Ben had a pretty rough upbringing with his drunk father. His dad could never get over Ben's mother dying giving birth to him. And Roger held it against Ben every day of his life, especially on his birthdays. This Roger seems to be very different with his son and it seems to have affected Ben's actions as well. Here's a big question that we probably will never find out, did Ben's mother still die during childbirth? (and yes, we must note that the mother was played in season 3 by Carrie Preston who is on True Blood and is also Michael Emerson's wife. ewww Oedipus!)
- Here is the kicker though folks, Roger and Ben still lived on the Island and in the DHARMA Initiative! That's right my friends, Roger took his son there to give him a chance at being something special. And Roger regrets ever leaving the Island. Naturally, we get some humor in Roger suggesting that their lives would have been better and who knows what Ben would have become. Well, he got the nickname Captain Bunny Killer for starters!
- So, we already knew that the Island was submerged after DHARMA had established their life on the Island. What we don't know is what made them leave. It doesn't sound like the place was submerged when they left though. Because they still think they could have gone back. The fact that they still went to the Island makes me think that Ben's mother still died during childbirth but that Roger reacted to it a little differently. Is this because Jacob wasn't involved in his life? (was Jacob ever involved? We do know that a Linus was on that wheel or wall and crossed off)
- There was some commentary this week about the sinking of the Island and possibly that it had to do with some kind of Volcanic eruption on the island. I am kind of digging this theory right now because they so clearly mentioned the volcano existing on the Island in that very same season 3 Ben-centric episode. We will see soon enough I think!
- Oh right so the doorbell rings and guess who is there? Alex Rousseau! I wonder if this is the episode that they were trying to get the actress that plays Danielle for. She could not commit. Before we get into why Alex is there, let's discuss something for the complainers. Surely, people are going to complain about the improbability of FRENCH BORN Alex Rousseau living in Los Angeles and speaking perfect English. I guess a big question would be if Rousseau's crew ever still made it to the Island in this version of history. And why on earth would they be living in Los Angeles of all places? Why does Rose live in Los Angeles? Is it for convenience? Or is it once again to show that these lives are intertwined no matter the involvement of the Island? Ben was meant to be in Alex's life. Maybe they won't explain why all of these people are residing in one place. But let's just go with the flow people. Let's see where this is going before we start throwing our hate.
- Anyway, so Alex was one of the 5 students in Ben's History Club and was really counting on the help from Dr. Linus because she has an AP Test coming up. (That is Advanced Placement for anyone who doesn't know. Unfortunately, I do and have nightmares just thinking about getting ready for those tests years ago!)
- Ben agrees to meet with Alex before school at 7am. "You're the best Dr. Linus" awwwww
The Plot Thickens
- Ben is tutoring Alex on the East India Trading Company. There is a ship in the picture that looks very similar to the Black Rock. We learned about Lord Cornwalis and the Charter act of 1813. I'm sure it's all tied together somehow. Yes both were British run operations, both are in the 1800's so it's all related. But again I'm just gonna throw some links your way so you can investigate at your leisure. I think we will be getting more information very soon on the show anyway, so I'm going to hold off! Lostpedia: Black Rock Wikipedia: East India Trading Company
(Speaking of which, is anyone excited that an official LOST Encyclopedia is being released on 8/24 the same date as the DVD/Blu-ray? There is still hope to get more answers for the little things we will still be wondering about! Sign me up!)
- Long story short, Alex ends up leaking some vital information to Ben about overhearing/seeing Principal Reynolds getting it on with the Nurse in the "Hearing Test" room. Alex "Gross right?" Ben "Totally gross" Classic! Ben promises not to rat out the Principal and use Alex's name.
- Later we see Ben come to Dr. Arzt with a proposition. Arzt is naturally grading everyone's papers or tests with F's. Love it! Come on who doesn't know their Genus and Species facts?!
- Ben knows that Arzt is a computer wiz and enlists his help to check out the Nurse's emails to prove the affair between her and Reynolds. Arzt knows Ben's angle is to become Principal and wants new Lab equipment and a Maple Leaf Parking Spot out of the deal. Ben agrees to the Deal. Arzt senses that there is quite a maniacal brain at work behind Ben's sweater vest. Well his exact words are "You're a real killer!" Another Island Ben pun!
- I forgot to note that it sounds like Mom and Daughter aren't doing well financially and that Alex needs to pretty much ace this AP test and get all the help she can get to get into Yale, her dream.
The Confrontation
- In the end, Ben goes to Reynolds with a very solid plan. He has 30 emails worth of information that suggest the existence of the affair and that acts have taken place on school property. He wants Reynolds to resign and recommend Ben for the position to which he would get no question based on Reynold's reputation.
- Ahhh, but Reynolds had a card in his back pocket. Alex requested a letter of recommendation from Principal Reynolds and he can decide whether or not to advance or destroy her future. OUCH! The choice is Ben's, he can advance his career or do the right thing for Alex's career.
- Naturally, in mirroring Ben's choices ON the Island that led to Alex getting shot by Keamy, we find out that he took the high road in Sideways land leading to Alex getting a very strong recommendation to Yale. And it left Ben with a very satisfied smile on his face. Maybe his life isn't so worthless after all. He just made someone else's dreams that much closer to coming true. He totally didn't destroy Alex's life like he did on the Island. But still, even on the Island he actually SAVED Alex and Rousseau's life by his actions. This episode is all about finding the redeeming qualities in the life of Benjamin Linus, and by the end of it you can't help but really feel for the guy. And that is huge mad total props to Mr. Michael Emerson. Just hand the guy another Emmy!
For anyone keeping track in Sideways Land so far:
Ben - Happier
Alex - Happier
Locke - Happier,
Jack - Happier,
Kate - On the Run but made a friend and is helping people,
Claire - Scared but Happy and going to raise her baby Aaron
Jin - Captured by Keamy (for the money found at airport? the watch?) Where is Sun?
Sayid - Still in love with Nadia but is not with her. Refuses to accept that he could deserve someone like her. Oh yeah, and he still can kill people in defense of the people he loves. Question still exists if Shannon is the one he truly loves that "died in his arms." I still lean towards no, but there is a chance he can run into her in sideways land.
The 3 Theories of Sideways Land:
- The Epilogue Theory - Everything we are seeing is how our Island Losties end up after the season 1-6 Island timeline reaches its conclusion. Right now, things are strongly leaning that way.
- Parallel Timelines with some possibility of Intersection - Somehow the minds of each LOSTIE is tied to each other across these timelines. At some point there will be some kind of intersection where these timelines merge. What that means, how it would go down? I have no idea. But what is up with all of the mirror/reflection things?
- The Prologue Theory - The events that are happening in sideways land happened BEFORE the events on the Island. In other words, actions in the sideways universe will cause future events to happen. This sounded like a fun idea at first, but I think I am unsubscribing to it. Where would Jacob come from if he's not around in this timeline (yes we don't know for sure that he's not around)? And would they really go from a world where Alex lives to a cruel world where Alex gets shot in the head? Ouch.
Jack Continues to Regain his Mojo
The last we saw of Jack and Hurley, they were guided away from the Temple to avoid a run-in with Smokey. Hurley was advised by Jacob that someone was coming to the Island and he needed their help to help them guide the way. When arriving at the Lighthouse, Jack discovered that all of them had been under surveillance for pretty much their entire lives. Jack didn't take too well to this upon realization and went for 7 years of bad luck by smashing the mirrors (4 mirrors so really 28 years of bad luck!). Ghost Jacob was pleased with what he saw as Jack just stared out into the ocean pondering what it all meant. We rejoin our heroes as Hugo takes a little jungle nap!
To the Temple, Dude No!
- Pretty much any words that come out of Hurley's mouth these days is hysterical, but I never saw the words uttered from a dream while waking up to be "Cheese Carrots". What does that even mean!? I am fine with it forever remaining a mystery! (Note: Most people are content accepting that "Cheese Curds" is actually what Hurley said. But I forever will wonder about the magic of Cheese Carrots!)
(Before anyone suggests it, no that is not the Smoke Monster, it's just their campsite fire!)
- Jack wakes Hurley up and is anxious to get back to the Temple. Considering how Jack flipped out the last time, Hurley is not about to tell Jack that he's been in communications with the dead guy any further. He goes the Hungry Route, the Taking Time route and Jack isn't understanding why they wouldn't return to the Temple. Jack, in his take charge ways, tells Hurley he his leaving. Hurley has no choice but to follow. No fear, someone will soon stop them!
- Hurley tried to mis-direct Jack saying that there was a shortcut back tot he Temple. Jack is convinced the way to go. And then poof, out of nowhere, it's Richard Alpert!
"You're both wrong. Temple is THAT way dudes!"
Richard leads the way
- So Richard is very determined that Jack and Hurley should follow him to the "temple". Jack is wondering where Richard came from. Richard says that "You wouldn't believe me if I told you". Now I'm convinced we are getting some more Richard information in the near future, so I am hoping vague comments like this make sense afterwards! But here's what we do know, Richard has been on the Island a very long time and he hasn't aged. Sawyer wanted to see Richard when he had injured Ben with him in 1977 and he similarly appeared out of nowhere. I believe Sawyer even said "Where did you come from?" Richard's answer was something like "my people told me you wanted to see me. Here I am." So, is there something to make of Richard's sudden appearances? OR, is the fact that Jack saw Richard in 1977 and now he sees him in 2007 looking exactly the same the reason he's asking the question?
- It's a good thing we have Hurley around to ask these questions for us. Although, I don't know when anyone ever would have explained to Hurley that Richard has been on the Island for years and hasn't aged. As my memory serves me, Hugo never met Richard. He came close in the season 4 finale, but he hung out at the Orchid while Ben was orchestrating his rescue from Keamy. And he certainly didn't meet him in 1977 while he was cooking and writing Star Wars scripts! But, for the sake of the story, we will have to accept that somewhere off camera the mystery of the ageless Jacob was explained to Hurley.
- Hurley doesn't seem to trust Richard but Jack is cool with following him because "at least he's not stalling". Ouch Hurley!
- So Hurley gets to the important questions. He asks Richard if he's time traveling. Quite simply stated, "No." Good, some had been pondering that maybe that is why Richard seems to be ageless. Hurley moves on to telling Richard that he looks the same as he did 30 years ago, and asks how that is possible. (again, we have to have faith that Hurley was informed somehow about Richard!) Loved him also asking if he's a Cyborg from Terminator or a vampire!
- Richard eventually gets frustrated and tells Hugo that Jacob gave him a gift. We will touch on this more later. We have to pause to take in the site of something that we have waited years for and might soon be getting information on.
Black Rock
Richard did not guide them to the Temple, he took them to the Black Rock!
Richard did not guide them to the Temple, he took them to the Black Rock!
- Richard lied about taking them to the Temple because everyone there is dead. He just had come from there. Jack begins to look concerned for Sayid and Kate (poor Miles!). Richard said everyone was dead but that Sayid and Kate were not there suggesting that maybe they got out. I am not going to get into the fact that Jack thinks Kate was going after Claire and not going to the Temple. But whatever! Maybe he knows Kate too well and just assumed she'd go there for more information as many readers assumed last week after I went on a rant about it!
- Jack then asks if Hurley knew about this. Hurley then reveals that Jacob hinted at it. Richard is shocked that Hurley has spoken to Jacob. And then he tells Hurley not to believe anything Jacob said. Clearly, Richard is very shaken by Jacob's death. And of course, we are starting to wonder if we should be supporting Team Smokey. Richard then proceeds into the Black Rock telling Jack and Hurley that he needs to die.
- Richard looks around the inside of the Black Rock, specifically at some chains that held the slaves in. (Refer back to LA X when Flocke told Richard "Good to see you out of those chains!" As we first suspected, it's looking like it was not a metaphor, but maybe it had some duel meanings) Richard explains to Jack that in all of the years that he has been on the Island, this is the first time he has been back to this place. ANSWER ALERT!! We have wondered if Richard was a member of the Black Rock, this seems to be a ringing endorsement! Now I really can't wait for his centric episode!
(It's pretty dark, but those chains are there!)
- Richard looks for the dynamite and starts going through it like there is no fear of what it will do to him. We get some great lines from Hurley about cleaning up Arzt off of his shirt 2 days later. Love it! No one can deny that the scene of Arzt blowing up in the season 1 finale was an awesomely funny moment of the show! "Dude, you have some 'Arnst' on you!"
- Richard is very convinced that he is not going to die because he has been touched by Jacob. (ANSWER ALERT, but hold that thought!) He goes on and on about how he was told he was special and how Jacob had really big plans for him, how everything happened for a reason and when the time was right Jacob would share it with him. But now Jacob is dead. Richard has determined that his life is meaningless and he wants to die. But he can't kill himself, he needs to be killed by someone else and wants Jack and Hurley to do it for him.
- WOW, right? So, let's take a trip down memory lane and I know I have done this recently on the blog but it definitely has been one of the big questions! 815 crashes, people survive the crash with barely a scratch on them. Locke falls out a building and Jacob touches him. The man doesn't die (or is seemingly brought back) but is paralyzed and healed on the Island. Jack tries to jump off a bridge and is stopped by a car accident. Michael tries to kill himself but can't (but when he does die Christian Shephard, of all people, appears to him and tells him he can die now). Sawyer gets shot at in 1974, he looks down and no bullets hit him. Granted, he did get shot at the end of season 1 and was very close to dying if Jack didn't save him.
- Well, it's not a perfect answer, but it looks like getting touched by Jacob has protected these "candidates" from dying. But I guess they can still be killed based on what Richard is saying. We were told before that if the Island isn't finished with you, you can't die. And now this looks tied to Jacob's touch. Why is Jacob's touch so magical? I have no idea. And I wonder if when your name gets crossed off if that "lifts" the protection or something like that. So then not only does he have a magic touch but a magic pen!? Would Charlie's death be considered a murder or a sacrifice for the benefit of his friends? His name was on the wall and crossed off. There definitely is some speculating that has to be done here and that is why we have comments.
- But, another big question that we all probably have now: Are all of the people "touched by Jacob" also ageless like Richard? We really wouldn't know since it's only really been 3 years. Obviously, Walt has aged but I don't recall seeing him on the wheel or wall even though he has these crazy powers! Yikes, so many questions after getting an answer folks. Us LOSTIES can never be satisfied! But, let's see if we get more information in the Richard-centric episode. I'm not going to tell you guys when it is to avoid minorly spoiling!
- So here we are. Hurley refuses to be a part of Richard's death. Jack, on the other hand, seems very sure of himself and is okay lighting the fuse to kill Richard. Loved Hurley's refusal to leave and then decides to leave "When you change your mind I'll be like a mile away!"
- But then Jack just sits down and says "Let's Talk!" Jack totally is getting that Man of Faith vibe going on! He pieces it all together. He was touched by Jacob, he's on that Lighthouse wheel. Jacob wanted him to see that he has been watched and is to serve some purpose on the Island. Richard can't die, so maybe Jack can't either. If Jack sits right next to Richard then the dynamite should not go off. He doesn't think either one of them will die. He explains all of this to Richard and is willing to be if Jacob went to all of this trouble to get Jack to the Island that he brought him here for a reason (woaaaa John Locke). Jack doesn't think his reason for being here is to blow up sitting with Richard. Richard asks what if Jack is wrong? Jack definitely has some confidence in his answer: "I'm not".
- Jack closes his eyes and the fuse just dies.
(Wanna Try another Stick? ZING! Good times!)
- Jack took a giant leap of faith and now seems to be back on the righteous path. Is following Team Jacob the right team to follow? For now, it would seem that way. I made a suggestion in last week's blog comments that maybe neither Jacob nor Smokey are who Jack and crew need to follow. Maybe, in the end, they will become aware of this crazy game Jacob and MIB have been playing and their goal will be to put and end to it all. But, I'm sticking with Team Jack because even as unconventional as LOST is, Jack has always been the hero of the show (even though he went through his roughest patch from the end of season 3 through the beginning of season 6). We have watched Jack face his demons and his faith throughout the show, and now he seems to be ready to take on his final mission. Many people think this show will end with the LOSTIES all against each other. And, I had one big argument against that point and I will share it with you again. The mantra that has guided Jack and his crew through the entire show: Live Together, Die Alone!
- Richard has decided that Jack is the man with the answers and asks what is next. Jack, ironically like Sawyer last season, decides to go back where they started. Yep! The beach! Woo hoo, reunion time! (but we'll get there in a bit)
Ilana Squad
At the end of last week's episode "Sundown" we see Ilana, Miles, Sun and Frank escape through the secret passage. We see Ben run away from crazy Sayid but don't see where he goes. We begin with him running away from the Temple but it is not long before he runs into the 4-some.
Temple Exit
- Frank pulled a gun on Ben out of surprise but lowers it. But Ilana is more concerned about where Sayid is.
- Ben said that Sayid killed Dogen and Lennon and that he doesn't think he will be joining them. Ilana asks if he's sure to which Ben responds "He was standing over their dead bodies holding a bloody dagger, so yeah I'm pretty sure." (keep that line in mind a few bullets down)
- Ilana was "TOLD" that they would be safe at the Temple. Who told her? Probably Jacob. We need her back story!
- Ben suggests they go back to the beach where they buried Locke. They'll have the water at their backs and it's familiar territory. Hmm, again, why didn't Sawyer suggest it that way in season 5 when Juliet, Miles and crew thought it was a bad idea? Ilana agrees that they should go to the beach.
- On their way Miles begins to ask Ben what the Smoke Monster was (this was the first time he saw it). Ben said that is what killed Ilana's friends back at the statue. Ilana overhears and wants to confirm with Ben that he meant her friends AND Jacob, right? Ben hesitates and then tries to continue to cover up his lie.
- Ilana then turns to Miles and knows who he is (how does she KNOW all of this stuff?). She knows that he "communicates" with the dead. Miles explains again that he can tell how someone died, pick up their last thoughts before they "check out." Ilana then hands him the bag of Jacob's ashes and asks him to tell her how Jacob died.
- Miles takes it and does his thing. He then said "Linus Killed him." Ben denies it and Ilana asks Ben if he's sure. Miles says "He was standing over Jacob's dead body holding a bloody dagger, so yeah I'm pretty sure!" LOL!! That is the epitome of GOOD TIMES right there folks!
- Ilana then tells Ben that Jacob was the closest thing she ever had to a father. Hmmmm very interesting. What is her deal?! Yep, all we can do is keep asking until we learn more about her. For now, all we know is she has a lot of information from Jacob.
Beach Arrival
- So every time we return to the beach, I keep wondering when that season 5 time traveling scenario will play out. The one boat chasing the boat with Sawyer, Locke, Juliet, Charlotte, Daniel and Miles on it. I thought this might be the episode it would happen, but it looks like we will just have to keep waiting. Of course, of all the people on the beach by the end of the episode, only Miles would be the one to know who those people in the boat were that they were shooting at. So, maybe Miles won't be there? Oh well, right now we just have to keep hoping that the writers didn't forget to come back to this one!
- Anyway, we're back to the beach! Yay! Ilana said that she is going to look for tools and to get a shelter going, she advised the rest to look for food and firewood. Miles makes sarcastic comments about starting the fire. Ben asks what he can do, and Ilana ignores him. Love Frank's comment to Ben "You make friends easy don't you?" That man needs his own show!
- Sun gets her couple lines of an episode in whining about Jin again. She asks Ilana how long they're staying there because she needs to find him. Ilana wants to find him too. Just when we think we are about to find out that Jin is the candidate, Ilana goes and tells her that she doesn't know which one of the Kwons (or possibly both) need protecting. We get information on Jacob's side of the story for the candidates. Ilana says that she could be a candidate to replace Jacob. Sun asks to do what? Ilana responds with "if you're the one selected, you'll find out". Interesting. Who selects the candidate?
- Anyway, Ilana says there are only 6 remaining candidates. But I guess she is referring to both Sun and Jin as possibilities because Locke is most certainly dead. (take note that after she makes this comment the next thing we see is Hurley lying in the grass. Coincidence? Probably, but maybe one day when we watch the show back that will be an ironic twist if Hurley is the "selected one".)
- Ben seems to be going through Sawyer's old stash. He finds the "gentlemen's magazines" and a couple books. To keep this blog G-rated I'll only show the picture of one of the books. The book we see with the "Booty Babes Magazine" is a book about Benjamin Disraeli called Justice and Truth in Action. I can't find any information on the book, but there is a quote by this former British Prime Minister that is "Sir I say that justice is truth in action!" This man also just happened to be Prime Minister in the 1800's which is similar to the whole timeframe of the East India Trading Company information we see in Ben's Flash Sideways. And of course, the Black Rock stuff. So every storyline briefly touches on that time period on one way or another. He also was a Prime Minister of Jewish Heritage which ties it to the next book that I actually read!
- Chaim Potok's The Chosen. Naturally, you would think I would have a whole bunch of insight on this book since I read it. Come on, I read it Sophomore Year of High School. You think I remember much? I do remember it was about 2 friends who were in 2 different groupings of Jewish folk in New York. The Hasidic Jews and the Orthodox Jews. They were friends even though they were brought up to be enemies. One wants to become a Rabbi, the other is CHOSEN to take over as tzaddick, which actually means "JUSTICE or RIGHTEOUSNESS" (ties in nicely with the other book). There are Father/Son issues in the book and all of that fun stuff. The Wiki entry listed above is a good read. Actually, I remember the book being a good read too, so read it!
- But you have to love Ben referring to the Magazine and saying "the things people will bring on a trip"
- Ben looks at the Oceanic bottled water and recalls the Oceanic Plane breaking in half like it was yesterday. Frank brings up that he was actually supposed to be flying the plane. But "ANSWER ALERT!" he overslept!!! NICE
- Ben was shocked to hear that Frank was supposed to fly it. Frank wonders how different his life would have been. Ben asks how different it would have been, he still ended up on the Island. Actually Ben said "The Island still got you in the end." Frank and Ben have a smiling moment right before Ilana puts a gun to Ben's neck.
Dig Ben Dig
- Ilana walks him over to Boone Hill, ties him up with some crazy contraption bracing him from running away. She then tells him to start digging his grave.
- Yikes, how is he going to get out of this one? Well, Miles stops by a little later and sees Ben taking his time with the hole. "I'm not really in a rush." Miles offers him food. "I'm not really hungry!" Ahh good times.
- But my favorite part of this whole encounter is when Ben offers Miles the $3.2 Million again. He says he can get off of the Island, he has many resources that can get him the money. I have to quote Miles verbatim here because it was hysterical.
"Why would I need your money when there are a couple of jabronies down there named Nikki and Paulo who got buried alive with $8 million in diamonds on top of them?"
Love it! I also like this because I think there were people that speculated that Nikki and Paulo weren't actually dead and were going to crawl out of the dirt. Not sure WHY people would think that, but this certified them as DEAD and GONE! And it also set one one disturbing scene at the end of the episode. - Ben can't believe Miles is just planning to stand by and watch Ilana kill him for killing a man who didn't care about being killed. Miles corrects Ben. We find out that Jacob DID care about dying and he really had hoped that he was wrong about Ben. Interesting. So maybe Jacob DID cross Linus off because he didn't seem fit to be a candidate. Jacob also told Ben to remember he had a choice. But then why did Jacob say "What about you?" when Ben asked "What about me?" This seemed to be what spawned Ben to stabbing him. It seemed Richard was hoping for the same thing. He wanted to know what his purpose was too. Oh well, I guess we find out Jacob was prepared to die but he was hoping he didn't have to?
- Miles leaves and Ilana shoots Ben to urge him to keep digging.
Smokey Visit
- So while Ilana is out of view, we hear the sounds of the familiar Smoke Monster. Flocke is there! Love when Ben asks him what he's doing here and he says "VISITING, what are you doing?" Ben tells him he's digging his own grave thanks to his convincing to kill Jacob. Ben says that Flocke gets what he wanted. He's going to die.
- Flocke says he didn't want Ben to die. And that he needs him. He said he is assembling a crew to leave the Island for good and that someone is going to need to stay on the Island when he leaves. (WHY???) He thinks Ben is perfect for the job. Is he planning to anoint Ben as the next Smokey? Can he even do that? Anyway Ben says that he can't go anywhere because he's tied up.
- Flock points down and Ben is free. Woa...did Flocke use the force and get him loose or did it just not stick? Ilana made sure that thing was pretty tight!
- Flocke says that he is taking everyone to the Hydra Island and for Ben to meet him there. He tells Ben where a rifle is and for Ben to run and to not hesitate to shoot because Ilana won't. Then he leaves.
- Hmmm, is Hydra Island important in leaving the Island? Is Flocke's goal really to leave the Island? Consider me intrigued!
Run Ben Run
- Next thing we see is Ben bolting into the jungle. Ilana goes after him. Ben gets to the gun and points it at Ilana. She drops hers.
- We get a very emotional scene that follows with Ben pouring his heart out to Ilana. All Ben wants to do is explain himself to Ilana and tell her how he knows what she is feeling. After all Ben was a father to Alex and he watched Keamy kill her in the name of Jacob. It was his fault. He chose the Island over her. He sacrificed everything for Jacob and he didn't care. He told her that he was scared, angry and confused when he killed Jacob. He was afraid of losing his power but the thing that really mattered was already gone (Alex). He apologizes and doesn't expect forgiveness, he can never forgive himself. But he wants to be able to leave and join with Locke. Because he's the only one that will have him.
- Ilana tells Ben that she'll have him. awwwwwwww Ben made a friend! Sorta. In all seriousness, this was a big big episode for Benjamin Linus. We wondered if, in the end, Ben could be redeemed for everything he's done. This was his big repenting scene. Some people may argue that it was re-hashing stuff he has already said or that we saw in Dead is Dead and The Incident. But I thought it was important to see Ben "officially" join the good guys. Or what we think is the good guys for now!
Reunion
Ben rejoins the crew on the beach and goes up to Sun offering his help with a shelter. This is followed by another musical montage!
- We hear the now Oscar Winning Michael Giacchino's score playing Ben's theme in a more positive tone than usual.
- Then it turns more into the theme from season 2's Collision, the last time we had a big reunion moment like this.
- Ilana is crying over Jacob's ashes.
- Miles is looking at some diamonds he pulled from Nikki and Paulo's grave! EWWWWWWW! But at the same time. NIIIIIICE!
- And instead of Sun running into Jin's arms like in Collision at the climatic moment of the music, it is the return of Jack and Hurley (and Richard) to the beach! And yes we are all wondering how they got to the beach from the Black Rock so quickly. But don't worry about it folks, just enjoy the music and get all choked up!
Down Periscope
Ahh yes, all is happy but then the camera moves out into the water, and a periscope pops up out of the water!
Ahh yes, all is happy but then the camera moves out into the water, and a periscope pops up out of the water!
We head into the submarine and there is a man saying "Sir, there are people on the beach. Should we stop?" And then Charles Widmore comes into focus. "No, Proceed as planned." woa.......
BOOM LOST!!!!
Alright, who had their money on Charles Widmore as the one coming to the Island? I know a few of us suggested it at one point or another. The question is, is he alone (well, besides periscope boy)? Or is Eloise, Desmond, Penny with him? Is he coming because of Jacob? Do we link the 2 scenes together? Where is he proceeding to? How did he get to the Island? It took him forever to find it the last time. Now he just found it again 3 years later? Or did he have the help from the Lamp Post? Jacob did say that the person would "find another way to get there". Very interesting stuff folks! A couple seasons ago, Alan Dale was contracted for season 5 to be a recurring cast member and signed with an option to become a regular cast member in the final season. I wonder if he'll be on the Island for the rest of the series? And we all must wonder what his role is!
But I have rambled on for far too long on this post, so I'm going to hand it over to the smarter folks out there to start commenting. There will be haters, but this is definitely my favorite episode of the season thus far. And I can't wait for another one next week. Hope you enjoyed my ramblings as always and I'll see you then. NAMASTE!
Ending Credits
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263 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 263 of 263Hey Mike V!!!! Wow! It has taken me this long to comment, because I have a job too, but I wanted to try and read all the comments before I commented! Congrats to you for this thing really blowing up! I believe I found you somewhere in season 4-ish? I can't remember the first time I commented, I think it may have been as 'anonymous' for the first few posts, but then I tried to think of a cool name to use, and well, that's all I had...You should be very proud of this blog- it's amazing! And I firmly believe that we all enjoy it as much as we all enjoy Lost! Don't let the haters bum you out- what you do here is very gracious & awesome!
First off, this whole season is one great episode after another. Sure, we don't understand the sideways-land junk, but we're not supposed to yet. We'll get there, it's totally cool to see what everyone thinks. I don't think I saw it mentioned here in all these comments (recently), but is there still a chance that the sideways-land we're seeing could be the younger versions of themselves when they went back to 1977? You know, all of the losties were time-traveling, but they got stuck, and there were 2 of all of them at the same time, well, same time, but in one version, they are kids, and in the other version, they are the 2004 losties as adults, right? And Sawyer could have gone home and found his younger self to stop his parents deaths (which I don't think could've happened- I think the 'island' would have found a way to interfere with that plan), but have we dismissed this theory yet? Like, what we're seeing in sideways-land are the kids from 1977 grown up, so that's why there are 2 'realities' which you have stressed is NOT an 'alternate reality'- that it's a true reality...I'm trying to think of how it couldn't be their younger versions, grown up in 2004 on the 815 flight, landing safely, but it sorta makes sense, I think? The only thing would be that some of them had not been born yet? And the differences are kinda throwing me off.
Oh- and I told you it would be Widmore!!! But after reading everyone's theories, I'm not sure if he's there for MIB, or Jacob. But since you confirmed that, (through the podcast), Jacob brought him, then we have to question the conflicting sides...Widmore sent the freighter, but Ilana and Bram are on team Jacob, maybe Widmore is playing on BOTH sides? He'd do just about anything to get back to the island...maybe he found a way to get in touch with Jacob, (maybe through Eloise, maybe at the Lamp Post), and is tricking Jacob just to get back to the island?
I love it! None of us really know what the heck is going on! All we can do is guess, and hope we're right, so we can do the "I-told-you-so" dance later!!! Ha! Looking forward to my man for next week!!! Bring it on!
david and mike:
haha yes volcanic eruptions actually build up islands. i found this so interesting: hawaii is over a hotspot that stays stationary and the pacific plate keeps moving northwest, therefore creating a volcanic island everytime it moves (hense the islands heading northwest).
i don't know if you cared about that tidbit and it's off subject of LOST but what can i say? i was fascinated in oceanography class this semester haha. maybe it will come up if you're ever on cash cab, and then you'll thank me right?
take care!
The sub scene kind of clashed with the rest of what proved to be the reunification scene of a highly emotional episode.
I'm still not sure what camp Widmore is in--Ilana doesn't trust him, but Eloise does. (I'm assuming her "god help us all comments" in earlier episodes refer to FLocke winning the war.) Do you think that FLocke may be planning on using the sub to get off of the Island? Is Widmore bringing it for him? Or does FLocke just need to kill all the candidates to get off? I'm assuming that he needs all of the Jacob substitutes knocked off before he can win or go, or whatever.
Richard is in a world of hurt right now. I wish that Jacob would send him a message via Hurley. I didn't see that suicide by proxy scene coming at all. Jack made up for his idiotic destruction of the lighthouse mirror with his scene with Richard and the dynamite.
I wish that they would have shown Richard discovering the chaos at the Temple, even though it wasn't necessary.
I also wish to God that Ilana and/or Richard would give the group at the beach the skinny on the whole "claimed" situation and what that really means. Will anyone think to tell anyone that Claire and Sayid have done more than join FLocke, but have been fundamentally changed on a deeper level and absolutely not to be trusted? It might, you know, come in useful. LOL
Still not sure of Frank's purpose on the Island, outside of flying the plane there. Miles has a purpose, but so far Frank has just been his awesome self. Which is enough for me, but I think that he has some deeper reason to be there. Agree that the shot of Miles with the diamond at the end of the episode was wonderful. Who thought that they'd ever follow up on Paolo and Nikki?
Love this blog Mike!
janice riser
What made me laugh was that no one cared that Illana was planning on killing Ben...they were just like, okay, we'll just fix up the shelter while you dig your own grave. When did these people become so heartless?
I would have expected Frank at least to say something. I did crack up at Miles offering Ben food (last meal anyone?) but felt kind of bad that no one seemed to care that there was going to be an imminent execution.
TAMMY HOUSTON, Springdale, Mass.
Hey Mike V...I am forever in your debt for this greaaaaaaaaaaaat Lost blog you've done week after week after week. Kudos to you!
Any chance we're going to see you on tv again anytime soon?
I've got some questions/thoughts that maybe you can help me out with. I'm still kind of confused about who knows what about the candidates. Ilana and Dogen know about them, but Richard (of all people) seemed to have no idea what SmokeyLocke was talking about when he mentioned candidates a few episodes back. And presumably Ben doesn't know about the candidate system since he and the Others wouldn't have been so cavalierly trying to kill Jack, Sawyer, Kate, etc. a few seasons ago. I guess, Dogen was given more information since he was one of the Temple Others? But you'd think it would've made sense to fill Ben in on this at some point, eh? Or at least when the Others were kidnapping kids and various people from the Tailies camp, Dogen could've arranged for the candidates to be among the taken. Though, then again, looking at the candidate list on Lostpedia, you don't see any of the Tailies last names (Smith, Cortez, Nadler, Eko) on the cave wall or on the lighthouse compass.
Remember way back when Michael was also not able to kill himself? He must have been a candidate or had some purpose to Jacob/the island once upon a time.
'Dawson' was one of the names on the cave wall, so Michael was indeed once a candidate. Obviously at some point he was eliminated from contention, but still had the final task of preventing the freighter's explosion long enough for the Oceanic Six to escape.
I like the theory that if you're a candidate, killing another candidate disqualifies you from contention. Going by this logic and the names we've seen on the cave wall already, we can disqualify Jack (killed Edward Mars, though it was technically a mercy killing), Sawyer (Tom), Hurley (he ran over Pryce from the Others with the Dharma van) and Sayid (tons of people). That leaves the Kwons --- Jin has killed a few random Others but I'm not sure if any of them were candidates. Sun shot Colleen Pickett, and 'Pickett' was on the wall, it could also have referred to Danny Pickett.
As for Kate, she's killed a couple of random DHARMA guys but who knows if they were candidates or not. So she might still be in the running too, though her status is up in the air. I wonder if Smokey will try to eliminate two candidates at once by trying to convince Sayid or Sawyer to kill Kate and Jin. Sayid might not be able to do it since he's under Smokey's thrall, so that is 'against the rules,' but maybe Smokey will try to somehow get Kate and Jin to try and kill each other. That way one is dead, and the other is no longer candidate-worthy.
Continued well wishes with you and the Mrs.
Frank Konradi
Just re-watched Dr. Linus. 3 things came to mind.
1. Just exactly where is Widmore going ("proceed as planned")?
2. Can we learn anything about the history of the island and the Sideways reality from the fact that Alex and Danielle are in L.A. in 2004 and not on the island? And that Ben did not kidnap Alex from Danielle?
Danielle originally arrived on the island in 1988. Did she still get shipwrecked in Sideways? Was Alex born on the island? What happened to her father in Sideways?
3. Why did Flocke not make a play to sway Sun when he came to see Ben? He seems pretty invincible. I'm doubtful that Ilana could have done much to stop him. Why didn't he just go and try and recruit Sun if the Candidates are so important? He had the perfect selling point -- he could have led her to Jin! Does he have a master plan which will lead him back to try and recruit Sun at some point?
@can't think of anything cool...
That is exactly my thought! That Sideways is the reality that unfolded for the younger version of each of our characters back in the 70s. With things shifted in their lives. (perhaps from the Incident, or the jughead detonation?) To me, it seems to make the most sense, as of this moment anyways.
Great episode and it reiterated my want for Miles to walk by Adam and Eve and say oh this is such and such or this is you .
I wonder when we will find out where Rose and Bernard are...
Thanks everyone for the awesome props on the blog!! I'm glad you're enjoying it! I'm on my phone again and will try to comment a little later on stuff.
But as for being on tv, I really don't think so but you never know! Lol I prefer to communicate my thoughts, theories and whatnot through the written word! Lol but that's not saying if I got an offer that I wouldn't do it! :-)
Dthollis, great point about Adam and eve and Miles! I'm not sure why I haven't thought of that before!
wow, I go on one little school retreat and there are way too many comments to read before I post.
I just wanted to say that I thought this episode was amazing! I loved seeing Ben's sideways story and I laughed when I saw Alex at his door, I love how they are all still connected in each timeline, and I think that thats what was meant to be, even if their lives are totally different.
I too cried when Ilana told Ben she'll have him, I feel so bad for Ben sometimes.
I also liked how Richard was so upset about Jacob dieing, not that I love seeing him so distraught but it reminded me how Jesus's disciples were so upset about his death and thought that everything he said was a lie and were wanting to die, until he was risen and showed them that he actually was going to make a kingdom for them, just not in the sense that they expected. So maybe Richard is still going to be told everything that Jacob kept from him, just not directly from him or something like that. Or maybe he is right and Jacob too is a lier, lol.
Also, I don't think it is going to be a Jacob and Esau type story, since they make up in the end, if it is any brotherly Bible story (lol, wasnt sure how to put that) it would be Cain and Abel, since Cain kills Abel. But personally I think it would be more of Jesus/God and the Devil. But who knows, it probably isn't even Bible related... well, I think I have rambled long enough, just had to get some of the random thoughts out of my head, lol.
Great job again Mike!
Mike,
200+ comments..wow, its taken me 4 days to get through them since I also have a day job :-)
Running that marathon 2 weeks ago while thinking through Lost plots really made the race go by quickly :-)
-I thought it was the best episode so far...I've been a little underwhelmed up until "Dr. Linus".
-I think MIB says "save me" and also that Smokey/Christian are one and the same...although we still don't know what happened to his body after the crash.
-Glad to see Widmore has arrived, still hoping he is on the right side!
-Can't wait for Richard/Black Rock and Ilana backstories!
-I would not be too thrilled if Kate winds up being the key to this whole thing...prefer Jack, Hurley or even Pablo ;-)
-great line by Ilana to forgive Ben, hope Ben is sincere with his shot at redemption??
-What if Jacob and MIB are not the original battlers on the island? Could they or their predecessors somehow be Adam and Eve? (Jack's forensic timetable be damned)
BTW-Where are you Liz??....you always have insightful comments and theories!!
Wow...that's a lot more comments to get to! I have a busy saturday so I'll just give my quick thoughts on the posts. Like i said before thanks to everyone for the major props!
Can't Think - I'm very proud of the blog...i really don't care what the haters think lol But sometimes i feel like i have to say something to them :-) lol
I hear what you and glenn are saying about the younger versions of the LOSTIES and everything...and that could be the case...but what about the people that were in contact with Jacob PRIOR to the Incident in 1977? What does that mean for them? I think there are still a lot of "variables" (pun intended) that we don't know yet...like if sideways land is a Jacob-less environment....And what caused the island to sink and WHEN did it sink. But until we get that information...all theories are welcome! LOL
yes you did tell us it would be widmore...it was the first person I thought of too lol We do know widmore was in Los Angeles, so maybe he got back to the island through info at the lamp post..we'll see!
Janice..thanks for the props! You have a lot of WISHES there! lol As for the camp widmore is in...based on the official podcast with Darlton...it sounds like he's in Jacob's camp...but we need to know what gave him the change of heart. As for Richard and Ilana giving information to the LOSTIES...well it just wouldn't be lost if they did that! lol But we will be getting Richard's story very soon...not TUESDAY soon...but as soon as it can be after that! (hint hint)
Tammy - it was very funny that no one commented on Ilana killing Ben lol
Frank - you're way too kind...but I will let you pay off the debt! lol Do you like Eggs? I make good eggs! lol (ahhh sideays Keamy..gotta love him)
I thought we saw some Tailies on that wall or lighthouse...but I could be wrong! lol I think i'm thinking of the freighter folk...Charlotte was on the wall. I made the same comment about Michael not being able to kill himself...he must have been a candidate too....and remember when Christian showed up and told him he could die now? Did he get crossed off? very interesting. But i like your thinking on the candidate process. We shall see...Kate killed someone, Sawyer killed someone..and they're candidates on the lighthouse dial. Sayid was still uncrossed too i believe.
Glenn - no idea where widmore is going...maybe hydra? Darlton said we'll see him again on Tuesday so we won't have to wait long! Yep..good questions on what happened with Rousseau and Alex in sideways land.
I'm sure flocke has a plan for Sun...and didn't want to alert his presence to anyone else just yet. we'll see!
Okay..gotta go..keep commenting folks..i'll catch up at some point!
Ugh sorry plumbarius and Mary I didn't see those comments there. I'll take a look and try to respond later! (the dreaded phone again lol)
WOW! Just finished my work-a-thon and thought I would check in an see who's commented, and I am floored. Mike, how are you finding the time? Took my whole night to read them all. I might have to skip checking in again until the next blog, this is getting so big!
Congrats.
Mike V- I'm not saying that the sideways-land is Jacob-less. I still think he has touched Kate & Sawyer as kids. Heck, I still think he's watched the candidates from childbirth, maybe even before that- he's watched the parents too, like Christian! All I'm saying is that I believe the sideways-land we're seeing is their double from when they went back in time. I think everything has still happened. I don't believe the bomb went off, I think it was just the radiation being super-released, which caused them to go back to 2007. Kinda like what happened to Desmond. The other thing throwing me off (besides some of them not being born yet) is the island being underwater...in 2004? Do you know when we're expected to get a Jin/Sun flash-sideways? That might explain more, because Sun did not go back to 1977, so how could she have been on the original 815 flight (in sideways-land)? THAT may be the thing that throws that theory out the window! HA! Oh well, still lovin' it! Still can't wait 'til Tuesday! Me & man my = happiness!!
Fourth Time Poster (FTP)
Varying musings from the Red Carpet Club in Tokyo……
Smokey and Hydra
Mr. Smokey is going to Hydra Island so he can repair the Aljira Airliner – enabling him to leave. Lapedus will be a much bigger player in this scenario.
Widmore
Widmore will end up with Mr. Smokey. They are natural allies. My theory is that Widmore was booted from the island because he ordered the Dharma massacre – against Jacob’s wishes. The Dharma Initiative was just one of Jacob’s competing “tribes” on the island.
Heat Miser/Cold Miser
A flight attendant on my last flight (she saw me watching the show on my laptop) told me that MIB and Jacob remind her of the Heat and Cold Miser characters in The Year Without a Santa Claus. She thinks that Jacob and MIB are spoiled kids and that the series will end with some higher deity coming to the island to set things straight. I can just see Jacob and MIB singing now……..I’m mister……..
Okay...as promised i'm back! lol
Mary - nice to see other people loved the episode as much as me! Yeah...I really don't know how i'd feel if they actually ended up doing some God vs. Devil thing. I like that they leave things ambiguous on the show. I don't want them to prove the existence of a higher power on LOST. The whole science vs. faith is a running theme on the show and I don't know if it would be right for the show to declare a winner! But as for using themes from the Bible...that's fine...they have been doing that since the beginning as well. Can't wait to see what they have in store!
Plumb - yeah the comments are out of control! I'm impressed that you read through them! Yeah..that crazy Jack timetable....i wonder if Darlton regret putting a time constraint on Adam and Eve lol Of course...maybe we'll get the answer NEXT week with a Black Rock story...perhaps it's other people from the Black Rock. That might be underwhelming. lol But I can't wait for that story either! Still don't know if i can agree with ONLY MIB portraying Christian. It just doesn't explain the off island appearance. But we'll see! Sorry to see that you scared Liz off too! LOL well, maybe she'll be back.
Can't think - yeah i know that's not what you're saying...it's just what I get tripped up with. We were taught for most of season 5 plus season 3 and 4 that there is ONE timeline....so the fact that we're seeing 2 right now is pretty nuts. So lots of the theories going around include this idea that maybe one timeline is a "jacob-less" timeline. And I was saying..it that's the case....then it would get confusing tying the INCIDENT to that and LOSTIES as Kids in that "singular version" of the timeline. Because Jacob would have already visited at least Sawyer. But I agree with what you're saying that maybe Jacob has been watching the families of the candidates....like Christian Shephard. I still haven't ruled out that maybe Christian has been to the island before. Not sure when the Jin/Sun episode might be...i thought Sun's would be "Sundown" but they tricked us! lol But Darlton have said that they won't specifically address why Sun didn't flash back with the losties....they said we'll have enough information to figure it out though. The whole thing is kinda crazy but I'm with you....i'm still thoroughly entertained by this show and I'm confident the answers will come!
FTP - Are you still going to be "FTP" for your 5th post? lol Yeah that is one possibility on Smokey and Ajira....but there seems to be other ways off the island than flying. so why would he need the plane? I had always thought Widmore had ordered the purge...and that makes sense if it was against Jacob's wishes...but that doesn't make sense why Richard and crew eliminated the US Military in a similar fashion (in 1954) It seems like from Darlton, that they're saying that something may have happened to give Widmore a change of heart and to help Jacob. Remember, Jacob wanted him to come to the island (as he told hurley) This has been confirmed by Darlton that Widmore was the guy. All i can say about the heat miser/cold miser thing is "INTERESTING!" lol
Thanks guys for posting! I have some tidbits to share from TV Guide Magazine if you want to hear them. Check out the next post. Potential SPOILERS!
TV Guide stuff. There is an article in the latest issue (march 15-21).....they warned of spoilers and i kept reading anyway...what is wrong with me? lol Anyway...i'll try to list some stuff below in as "DARLTON" a way as possible to not reveal much!
**********SPOILER ALERT********************
This is easier..I found it online lol:
TV Guide Article
In addition there were Q&A's in the magazine:
Q - Significance of Jacob visiting Hurley AFTER flight 815
A - Lindelof "more operative question is How long was Jacob watching Hurley?"
Q - Where is Vincent?
A - "all we can say is you'll see Vincent again in the course of the show, and we promise he'll have a happy ending" (they have said for many seasons he will survive to the end of the show"
Q - Sideways Locke relationship with Dad and how did he get paralyzed?
A - Darlton love the question and hint that we may be seeing Cooper again as well as learn just how Locke was paralyzed
Q - What's the deal with Walt? One of the only non-dead characters whose apparition appeared on the island.
A - All Lindelof will say is that Walt is a character who has "special abilities." Whether that apparition was the actual Walt or the Smoke Monster is "to be determined." BTW, Cuse adds that they are conceptualizing a way to reintroduce Walt before the show's end.
Q - Who is Jack's ex-wife, David's mother in Sideways land?
A - Julie Bowen (Sarah), says she would feel betrayed if she's not the mother. Carlton Cuse also pointed out that Modern Family happened to be filming an episode out in Hawaii and he cryptically said "it seems extremely nice that she's going to be in Hawaii" referring to Julie Bowen. hmmmmmmm
That's all i have for now!
Regarding Sun being the only one of the Oceanic 6 (minus Aaron) that did not time travel back to 1977, it is also interesting to note that she is the only one of that elite group that was not visited by "Jeremy Bentham" either. Probably doesn't mean anything but it is interesting though.
Right but Ben made an appearance to locke. But it's as good an argument as any. What if it's just that she wasn't a candidate?
In regards to the the 3 theories on the flash sideways, how does the part where Miles "talked" to Juliet's dead body tie in? According to Miles, Juliet said "It worked". We're meant to assume that "it worked" refers to their plan to reset the course of events on the island by detenoting the bomb. If this is true, which of the 3 theories does it support, if any?
Rob I guess one could argue that it could apply to any of them, but I would think mostly the option where they are happening in parallel. The thing with juliet's comment is that she may not have known what she was seeing. She may have assumed what she saw/experienced was a result of jughead but I think we need to see a little more before we automatically conclude that it was indeed blowing the nuke that causes the sideways world. We will see!!
I'm intrigued by fact that in LA Ben chose to put Alex in front of his own ambition, and then the island mirrored that when he chose to stay on the beach rather than go with Smokey. Can't be a coincidence that Ben did not chose his own power cravings in both timelines.
And Jack has opened up to become THE man of faith on the island, and totally opened up to his son to forge a relationship wth him.
In LA Hurley is all like take-charge and visiting all his businesses, on the island he is more in charge than previous years.
So, are the behaviors and choices starting to be 'mirrored' or affect eachother ?
Oops ! That last 'mirroring' post was me ! Hit send too soon. Sorry
Comment to Rob Said on Julliet's comments:
I believe that Julluite experienced what Desmond did when he turned the key and the swan imploded. Of course Desmond's conscousness found him naked running in the jungle.... I hate inconsistantcies ;-)
MJ, yeah, I thought that was the whole "THEME" of the episode. Ben redeeming for his past desires for sacrificing anything for power. Are you suggesting that there's more to it with the connection of consciousnesses between Island and Sideways Ben? That would be interesting.
Looks that way since you're tying the other guys to their sideways decisions as well. Definitely an interesting perspective to look at it! Not sure if it plays into Kate and Sayid's sideways stories as well. Well Sayid did kill people in both. Kate is trying to help claire in both. So maybe it does.
Here's the thing that always throws me off...2004 - Sideways and 2007 - Island If the consciousnesses are linked...is it between these 2 present times...or would it be 2007 Sideways and 2007 Island? I guess it really depends what we're seeing in this sideways timeline! lol
Hello, Mike! Wow, you get a bit of a break for a couple of days! You must be happy to have a bit of some blog downtime!
I'd like to take this opportunity to clarify some terms related to the Sideways reality. In particular, one topic has been bothering me, and I am suspecting we may be using different frames of reference.
So, in the following statement, paraphrased from Darlton: Sideways reality is showing us "what would have happened if the plane never crashed," can we explore what that means?
For me, that could mean a few different things.
1. It could mean sideways is showing us what would have happened if Original-Timeline Plane did not crash -- the very crash which led to this series in the season 1 opening episode. If I'm following your arguments about Sideways correctly, my take is that this is what it means to you.
2. Or, it could also mean that Sideways is exploring what would have happened IF THE SIDEWAYS REALITY PLANE never crashed. In other words, that the Original Timeline plane STILL DID CRASH, but the Sideways plane did not. This has been my assumption all along -- that Darlton are referring to the Sideways Reality being a reality where the Sideways characters never end up on the island. From this perspective, it feels like a leap to me when I hear you make the leap that the statement above also means the original timeline crash never happened.
Have you ever heard Darlton explicitly say that they are referring to the ORIGINAL TIMELINE plane when they make the statement above?
Said another way -- have we seen anything to prove to us that in Sideways Reality the Original Timeline Reality plane did not crash?
I am sure you are seeing where I am going with this. It seems to me that has big implications for the Sideways theories. What I hear you arguing is that a lot of the things that we watched in Season 5 would not have happened if the Original Timeline Losties never went back to the 70s, because THEIR plane never crashed.
So, I may be missing something in all this, and if so, I'd be very happy to be brought up to speed. What say you, Oh Lost BlogMaster? ;-)
PS Thanks to Shanna for the drop-in! Nice to officially meet her!
LOL on the Naked Desmond/Juliet, Anonymous. Makes sense that Juliet may have experienced what Desmond did. (or something similar...since Desmond traveled back in time and relived events of his life that he remembered) It seems that Juliet experienced a DIFFERENT life that she doesn't remember. And the question is...will everyone else experience this too? Does it have something to do with dying? I guess we'll see!
Whoops Glenn, sorry I missed your comment earlier!
Blog downtime is nice sometimes, but I don't mind lots of theories being posted either! Here is my take on your speculations on the Darlton comment (or the "Enhanced Lost comment lol" )
I don't know if i fall into either of those categories Glenn, but I see what you're saying (kinda). I thought I was #1 but i'm getting thrown off by Original Plane and Sideways Plane. We watched the ORIGINAL TIMELINE from 2004 to 2007 and then we watched them time travel back to various places and end up in 1977 of the "ORIGINAL" timeline. They blow the bomb and then are transported back to the 2007 the present day that they are from with no changes whatsoever. This is proven by the hatch still looking like it did when it imploded (plus the stuff that came back with Juliet)....and the characters Sun, Ben, Richard, Ilana, Bram, Lapidus still continuing their timeline as they had been proceeding since season 5. But now we are introduced to a brand new timeline...one in which the plane does not crash. We are seeing an instance of the LOSTIES where the plane does not crash...and the reprecussions of them living an islandless existence (well, now, except for Ben and Roger Linus). It's definitely NOT the original timeline. That's where I get confused with your comments. The Sideways Oceanic 815 does NOT crash. Does this mean that it didn't crash in the "ISLAND" timeline? (i won't say original, because we have no idea what ORIGINAL is yet) ...no the plane crashed in the Island timeline..we saw it happen...we have watched it for 6 seasons now. We are still watching it. But we are also seeing a new perspective that is somehow going to tie into the Sideways story.
What i am saying is: If in sideways land...we are living in a world where 815 never crashed, then the LOSTIES do not go to the island, time travel back to 1977 and get inspired to CHANGE their destinies. (IN THE SIDEWAYS TIMELINE) Obviously the Island 815ers are still living out their lives like this has already happened. But in the sideways timeline...no one ever would have gone back in time to blow up jughead. How does this change things? What else is different? Is there no Jacob in this timeline? Why did the Island sink?
I know what you're saying..kinda...the 815ers always go back in time and CAUSE this new sideways timeline. We don't know for sure that this is what we're seeing. But let's say it is: When does this Sideways Timeline originate? Are the timelines only different from the Incident onward? Or does it go further back than that? If it's only from the incident onward...then I see where you're coming from. Right now, though, it's just not my line of thinking.
I think we're allowed to agree to disagree right now! But, I still don't think I got tripped up on the time travel stuff. I have just made some assumptions! :-)
I'll let Shanna know you send your regards! LOL
I am definitely trying to say that it seems like they are making same/similar decisions in both timelines. And I think we will get more Kate 2004 LA info so I left her off for now. But yes - she is helping Claire in both and yes Sayid has gone dark side in both - but I think we don't have all the 411 on him yet either.
Agree - the 2004/2007 part is a head scratcher. But I pretty much think that they will somehow merge or cross - so with all the obvious looks into mirrors and similar decisions going on - there has to be some connection.
We shall see LOL
Glenn whoops i messed up "But we are also seeing a new perspective that is somehow going to tie into the 'Sideways' story. " I meant the 'ISLAND' story not 'Sideways' story lol
MJ - agree we don't know all about Sayid and Kate yet. I think it definitely makes sense what you're saying and definitely think the MIRROR/Reflection thing has a lot to do with what is going on! (btw...i responded to your FlashForward comment lol)
hey guys, I always get these things emailed to me every week. It's Al Trautwig's video analysis of an episode. he is a TV commentator for the New York Knicks and Rangers, but also a big LOST fan. I think he started doing these last season. But I haven't been keeping up with it. Anyway, since they email them, I figured I'd share it with you guys!
Al Trautwig on S6 Ep 7 "Dr. Linus"
Mike V - Question about something you wrote a couple days ago: "I think the Sideways Timelines are showing the repercussions of life without interference of THE ISLAND (or the powers that be on the island - e.g. Jacob)". Are you open to the possibility that sideways world shows life for the characters with the benefit of the island experience? As has been stated before, everyone’s life seems to be better. In 'Dr. Linus', each one of Ben’s sideways flashes ended the same way: a close-up of his face as he stared ahead as if remembering or daydreaming (perhaps “reflecting” is a better description). And these were directly tied to the concurrent island activities: from Ben blackmailing the principal to bribing Miles; from Arzt saying “you’re a real killer” to Ben digging his grave for killing Jacob; from Ben deciding between power and helping Alex to Ben deciding between FLocke’s offer and following Ilana. Kate’s flashes were similar but less obvious in her episode (haven’t rewatched other episodes yet). So, it could be what you said – an especially fine job of directing by MVP – and I could be reading too much into it. But for now, I’ll stick to my theory that the sideways world will be the real world in the end, with the island experiences and lessons learned a part of the characters’ consciousnesses, although probably a very dim or vague part.
Also, I don’t trust Widmore a bit, so I think he is going to try to switch places with MIB, who wants out. If I remember correctly, Jacob said someone is coming and he needs help getting to the island, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the person is on Jacob’s side, just that he has to be there for the end game to play out.
Bill [PA]
Bill, I'm pretty much open to anything on this show! lol And my opinion of what's going on changes from day to day. I mentioned in previous post also that the director, Mario Van Peebles (sp) was very keen to make the sideways and island stories flow from one scene to the next to make the show more organic. He really wanted to tie the theme of both stories together. (whoops..just saw that you referenced that comment! LOL)
So, do you think the ISLAND story never happened? Or are you going with more of the Epilogue theory where the island events happened...and now they're living out their lives POST-Island in a reset world...and they have ties to their former consciousness that reminds them of past faults? It's not a bad theory....and i kind of like it. I just don't know if that's where this is going. If that's where it is going..i just want the Island story to MEAN SOMETHING in the end. That was our concern with jughead blowing in season 5...that 5 years we invested in this show was going to be blown away. Of course...if they're learning from mistakes they made, subconsciously, maybe that is a form of "MEANING SOMETHING". I just think there is more to the Sideways story than meets the eye. I keep thinking that these characters are going to "wake up" and realize what these deja vu feelings they are having are. Not that we've seen much of it outside of Jack.....it just seems like there's going to be a big revelation within THAT story...and not the Island story revealing what the Sideways truly is. But that could be just wishful thinking on my part! :-)
Definitely not a bad thing to NOT trust WIdmore (gotta love double negatives!) I agree...and thought about the fact that Jacob needs him there and it is not necessarily to support him. Here's hoping that we'll see! I think I read that Richard's episode will be a flash "BACK" (thankfully, we need that black rock story...besides the different woosh sound between scenes, I wonder if they're going to have to tell the viewers that it's a flashback and not a flash sideways lol).....Anyway, I'm hoping that we get a Widmore flashBACK story before the end of the season so we can see his side of things that we have yet to see.
okay...i think that's enough rambling for now. New episode tomorrow!!! Time for some Monday prime time! lol
The Weekly Totally LOST and Doc Jensen Links! Happy LOST Day!
Totally LOST!
Doc Jensen
It amazes me sometimes how much me and Doc Jensen are on the same wavelength. I even think I used the same "the new Purgatory theory" argument for the Epilogue Theory lol
" I am also suspicious of the popular view that the Sideways World is the afterlife destination for the Island World characters — an ''Epilogue Land,'' to use a phrase making the rounds; the world into which the castaways will be reincarnated. To me, this theory strikes me as serviceable but generic — the new ''Purgatory'' theory. "
Of course...this is before Doc goes off on his philosophical tangents! then we can be very different lol
And as Doc Jensen continues to say, i agree....it's not stupid to be pondering the Epilogue Theory...it seems very relevant to be considering it as an option. But I agree, I just don't see it going that way. I'd be surprised if it did...not disappointed. Okay...now going to finish reading his crazy column! lol
So are we 100% sure that our Adam and Eve are a man and a woman? Was that clearly stated or was it just assumed? Did Jack actually say they were man and woman or did he just refer to them as two people? I think Hurley named them Adam and Eve. Was he just making a joke and it was actually two men in the caves?
two better than you
Mike 5 - you are no doc jensen. That is like comparing Mickey Mantle to Mickey Mouse..... LOL!
Where V = Mantle :)
Nice, thanks Weasel! lol
Just so we're clear though folks, I was not trying to compare myself in anyway to the man with a full-time job dedicated to all things LOST. I think Jeff has come a long way since season 1 with his coverage of the show and I think our LOST experience would be incomplete without him! But even the Doc has admitted that his theories can be a little crazy at times! lol
I'm pretty sure Jack refers to one as Male and Female when the spinal surgeon puts on his forensics hat and determines the sex and age of decomposition. And right after he does it was actually Locke who says "our very own adam and eve" Mr. 6 or 7...where are you going with your theory? I know that some people are saying what if it's Jacob and MIB....and then some speculation went into the concept that maybe MIB isn't even originally a man at all...maybe it was a woman! That might be a little too nuts (no pun intended) for my taste though!
oh and FYI - You know that the V is for my last name and not the roman numeral 5, right? (yeah, I know, the play on words was all part of it) But technically, you really should be Mike U. or Mike W.! LOL
I chose to believe Mike 6 was comparing you to Mantle as well ;). His structure actually denotes it: "You...Doc Jensen." compared to "Mickey Mantle... Mickey Mouse."
Only several more hours until "Recon" :)... and then just one week until what I'm expecting to be the best episode of the entire series so far!
Thanks Bryan! Too kind lol
Can't wait until RECON! But I agree, I think we're in for a real treat next week. I hope it's not getting too overhyped! I checked the TiVo, we're getting an additional 6 minutes of LOST next week! I'm sure that only translates into 3 with commercials but whatever! LOL
Look at the big brains on Bryan! I'm going to call you "SAT Man".
I still think:
1) Kate has been claimed
2) MIB is representing good
3) One of the "RULES" between Jacob and MIB is that you can only be killed by some one that you have claimed. Meaning you can only kill yourself. Therefore I do believe that Ben was actually previously claimed by Jacob and MIB found the loophole to convince Ben (Jacob) to himself Jacob (himself)... I just blew your mind huh??!!!
4) The V in Mike V stands for 5
Mike W:
1.) Don't believe this will happen until we see Flocke talk to her. Even then, not sure if she'll be swayed. I have to see what our resident Con Man is up to this week first lol
2.) Not ruling it out, but it's been looking less and less likely. I'm looking at it a different way now. MIB may be bad...but Jacob isn't necessarily GOOD
3.) Very interesting theory! My mind is still in good shape, but I like where you're going with it!
4.) You are free to think whatever you want! You just might be wrong in doing so! lol
If Mike 6 is Mike W, then I am Mike X! That has a nice ring to it...LA X...
So mike x are you mike 7? lol I had to have the most common name in america didn't I? Lol (or at least at one time)
Less than 3 hours!
Wow, I never thought I could have empathy for Ben - great episode! And you're right: the posts have gone completely nuclear (like the hatch)! Interesting theories all around. I have to say I surprised when Alex turned up - wouldn't it have been cool if she also had the same boyfriend (the kid that they were brainwashing - can't remember his name)? Loved the Jack/Richard scene - and Hurley getting himself the hell out of there! Good times! Now we just need our Richard backstory. I'm with you: can't Jacob just pass info to Richard through Hurley or something. Ya gotta sympathize with Richard finding the Other massacre and everything. Well, LostFamily is sticking to the one episode/week schedule so far - it takes that long to process all we've seen and to read the blog! Great job as always Mike - can't imagine this journey without you.
Hello LOST Family! I can't believe how disciplined you guys are with sticking to the 1 episode a week plan! But hey, good for you! Stretch it out as long as you can. Yeah, the comments really got out of control in the final season but I tried my best to keep up with the conversations!
I believe you're referring to KARL as the guy that they didn't bring back for Dr. Linus. Yeah that would've been cool, but not really necessary for the story they were trying to tell. Plus, Karl was probably shooting an episode for Mad Men at the time or something!
If such a Richard episode is coming your way....I might say you're in for a real treat but you might have to wait a little while before you get it! :-)
Thanks for the props as always and you're far too kind!! Enjoy the next episode!
Oh yes, Karl!! It would have been a fun Easter egg if he kind of just walked by in the background or stopped to ask directions or something. Yes, we're prolonging it as much as we can. Now that school's in session and I rarely see my daughter during the week, the weekend has become our Lost viewing time. Catch ya next espisode!
I really looked forward to this episode because Benjamin Linus is such a central figure to the Island. Yes, there's Jacob and the MiB and the enigmatic Richard, but despite not being born on the Island, Ben is the closest thing to a real native we know with any intimacy. The Oceanic survivors are the interlopers here, and they arrived with a purpose, but unlike them the Island is the only place Ben has ever really felt at home. Even during his occasional forays to Tunisia or London or Iraq, we always felt always felt the Island was where he belonged.
Which made his sideways story particularly curious because we're not used to seeing Ben in the real world like we were used to seeing the other characters. It was a little jarring. Dr. Linus as an everyday high-school teacher, a man who buys organic frozen dinners for his dad, says things like "totally!" and tutors students in a History Club. And then Ben reaches a state of having to make a choice between furthering his own career or helping out a student (Alex) he feels fondly for, and he chooses the altruistic path. It was easy to stand and cheer for this redemptive moment for Benjamin Linus as he chose his (Island-life) daughter's welfare over his own. But of course, it was only in his flash sideways life.
Of all the sideways stories, this one practically wrote itself. In fact, some of lines of dialogue were a bit "on the nose" and there were some gaps in real-world logic. For instance, since Ben had some truly incendiary evidence on Principal Reynolds, he really held all the cards and could have forced Reynolds to give up his job and write the letter of recommendation to Yale. Reynolds' entire marriage and career were on the line and Ben could have easily twisted the knife.
But as the producers have said, they'll choose storyline over plausibility every time. And they made the right choices here. It was a terrific story with a heartwarming finish, and most of us are happy to give Ben a little redemption.
The sideways story tied in well with Ben's Island story too, as some of his lies caught up with him and he got in hot water with Ilana and finally made a riveting confession about how he let his daughter get murdered. The emotional charge hits a peak when he tearfully tells Ilana that he's going with Locke "because he's the only one that will have me." Ilana ends up taking him back into her group and Ben appears to join what appears to be the good guys.
Jack also had a riveting scene with Richard in the Black Rock when Jack ignited the fuse to a stick of dynamite and declares that it won't kill him because Jacob has a plan for him. When the fuse goes out, it was funny to hear Jack casually ask, "Wanna try another stick?" Believe it or not, Mike, after giving Jack some love in my last post, THIS was the scene that made me love him. I'm not exactly sure why, but could it be his long-forming conversion to faith?
There were a LOT of great lines and funny stuff in this episode too, and plenty of other plot twists that are leading us towards the end of the show, but Mike did his usual awesome job of summarizing everything!
While watching this episode, I realized that I would only have so many eps left to watch before finishing the entire series of Lost. And whether someone is bingewatching like me or had to wait an excruciating 7 days between season six episodes in 2010, I realized that none of us really wanted it to end. And yet it had to, as all good things must.
As for the Sideways Flash debate, I'm sticking with my feeling that they will eventually merge the two timelines together, but have to admit I'm getting worried about seeing more signs of that. The deja vu moments aren't really happening anymore and the mirror/reflection thing doesn't seem like enough. The prologue theory sounds like rubbish, but the epilogue theory does carry some validity. Either way, the writers have their work cut out for them. I'm sure they're up to the task.
Yeah, I thought this was a really great redemption episode of Ben. How do you redeem a character that did so many awful things. This was the best case they could make for him. And he seems to be doing much better in his sideways life. I would argue that Ben did not have as much practice with manipulation in his sideways life so he may not have considered "twisting the knife" the way island Ben would have. He was tempted by his dark side, but chose to go a different route.
Jack's scene here was AWESOME. Totally agree. I'm glad you're turning around on him. A lot of those same people that couldn't stand him for the whole series did a 180 on him by the end. It was all by design in the series. But, as I kept mentioning...he was on a long arc of a hero's journey. And they took the man to the lowest of the lows before building him back up. It's actually pretty groundbreaking stuff for a network show to show this many sides of their lead character.
Ahh I almost forgot about those theories! (prologue, epilogue, parallel lol) I will say that while none of them pan out exactly as we mentioned there, one of the theories may be on the right track. lol Of course, how could it not be? There's not much else it could really be! But, I did get closer with a throwaway theory I posted in the comments that I don't think anyone even read.
I'm glad you're not REALLY reading the comments, because in the comments of one of these final episodes (i forget which) I also called the final shots of the series almost frame for frame. I was pretty damn impressive. lol
Yes...watching the final season got sadder with each episode that aired. Of course, the cynical crowd got more pessimistic with each episode that aired too leading to a finale that would be guaranteed to satisfy and disappoint different segments of the audience. LOST is a unique experience but I guess the bright side is...there's lots of other great TV out there waiting for you! If you need recommendations, let me know! What's your POST-LOST plan?
Wow, my post-Lost plan is pretty wide open. Of course, there's the usual current TV stuff. I have Showtime but not HBO, so I'm watching Dexter because I bingewatched that series from season 1 up to the current, final season; not really watching Ray Donovan (though it's not as bad as they say); and waiting for Homeland and Shameless to return.
I catch up on all the HBO shows (Girls, Game of Thrones, etc.) every winter when Comcast has their "everything is free week."
Then there's Breaking Bad, which I'm addicted to like you but will probably watch tonight's ep On Demand tomorrow. I'm anxious for Mad Men and Louie to return and then I'll probably watch my usual network shows, like Parenthood, New Girl, Parks & Rec, Community, etc.
I'm into basic cable shows too, like Portlandia, White Collar, Bates Motel, Orchid Black (big time), The Americans (bigger time), and even some USA network shows on occasion (Covert Affairs, Suits, Royal Pains, et al).
But getting Netflix a month ago opened up a whole new world. The first thing I did was watch seasons 1 and 2 of The Walking Dead and I really got into it. I will check out your reviews for that show when I'm done with Lost, but I'm still waiting for either: 1) AMC to rerun all of season 3 on demand before they launch season 4, or 2) for Netflix to pick up season 3, which they'll do pretty soon I hope. Then I hope to watch season 4 when it comes back in October.
Before I tackled Lost, I watched the first season of American Horror Story (liked it, heard season two is better) and Orange is the New Black (very solid, a little overhyped, but great ensemble).
There's a ton of stuff that I have NEVER seen that I could start bingewatching on Netflix any time I want to. My top choices are all ones that I have (mostly) avoided watching in the past, just like Lost:
Alias (don't know much about it)
24 (heard the hype and read some recaps)
Friday Night Lights (watched a few eps in season 1)
Fringe (heard some hype, but avoided)
The X FIles (watched maybe an hour total)
There are a lot more that I will get around to that I also haven't seen:
Scandal (cult following?)
How I Met Your Mother (the early seasons are good?)
Archer (been avoiding to watch from ep 1 forward)
Prison Break (heard good things from a friend)
Arrested Development (didn't get into it before, quit early)
Terra Nova (cult following?)
Sons of Anarchy (for fun violence?)
I also want to see Justified, The Wire, Deadwood, The Shield, True Blood, Enlightened and The Sopranos whenever they're available for free viewing or Netflix manages to pick up licensing for them. I heard some of those are candidates for licensing, but not the HBO shows. For HBO, I'll have to find another way. But right now there's a ton of TV shows on Netflix I want to catch up on first.
And of course there's just as many hours of movies on Netflix as there is TV (I watched The Hunger Games before starting Lost, too). So as you can see, I have a lot of choices and a lot of shows I want to see. I could spend the next six months just watching Netflix. It'll take me a long, long time to see everything. So, based on the above, what do you recommend as a strategy?
Whew you named off a lot of great shows there! You certainly have your work cut out for you and I can absolutely help you out! lol
First of all, I'll mention the ones you're watching that I also am currently watching:
Community (so glad Dan Harmon is back. Hopefully the magic returns)
Dexter - (liking final season, but definitely ready for it to end. I binge watched seasons 1-3 and then watched rest real time)
Parks and Rec and New Girl (comedy at its finest right there)
Bates Motel - Carlton Cuse (lost showrunner with Damon Lindelof) runs that one. It's great!
The Americans - started it and have the rest tivo'd. Have to watch!
Orphan Black - All tivo'd have to watch.
Orange is New Black - 3 or 4 eps in. Waiting for my wife to get home so we can finish!
Walking Dead - If it's anything like Breaking Bad, AMC should release the episodes to Netflix right before the season starts. If not, set your DVR for season 4, and then when the season 3 eps are available you can barrel right through them all!
AHS - Watched both seasons. Agree, season 2 was better. But each season is its own thing.
Wow...the shows on top of your list are all great. But, I would steer clear of X-Files for now. Just because there were so many seasons and the last couple kinda trailed off.
Alias - Still working my way through. Lots of Plot Devices in this that were put to use in LOST too. The story was Damon Lindelof thought he was meeting with JJ to get hired to write on Alias, but it was for this ridiculous "Survivor the DRAMA" pitch that some ABC Exec wanted JJ to work on. lol (The story behind how LOST got made is almost as interesting as the show itself!)
24 - Wow...the first 5 seasons of this show is a binge-watcher's dream. You can't go wrong. Even binge watching the other 3 seasons probably isn't as bad as watching it in real-time (pun intended lol). Great great suspensful drama. The 24 episodes a season did have drawbacks...some weak plotlines. Really excited about the show being ressurected for a 12 hour mini-series in the spring.
Friday Night Lights - AMAZING show!!! I can't say enough about it. Season 2's shortened writer's strike season is its weakest moment. But it's great for the rest of it. Doesn't get any better than TV like that.
Fringe - It was the heir apparent to LOST. Another JJ Abrams show. Took all of season 1 to find its bearings...went from a procedural show with a little mythology to working the mythology into its procedurals every week...to all out mythology by the end. I recapped from season 3 on (when LOST ended). That show did a pretty good job at dotting i's and crossing t's through the end. A great science fiction show....and of course strong core central characters. Love it!!
I honestly can't tell you how to prioritize which one to watch first. But you can feel free to post in our TV Addicts Blog on your progress of any of them. I have a weekly "TV TALK" blog post I put up and a monthly "summer TV talk" post where we just label the show we're talking about and have at it! I've been updating people on my progress through alias for anyone that watches.
It's a shame you'll be a year behind us on Game of Thrones though! Such a great show. You should read the books too, they're great.
Other shows:
Scandal - My wife and I binged 29 episodes in a week this summer with our toddler roaming around. Only the 7 episode season 1 on netflix, then we got a 2 month free hulu subscription to watch the rest. It was AWESOME. I thought it would be mostly a chick show with Shonda Rimes (sp) at the helm. But it is a political thriller rooted once again in strong characters.
HIMYM - A sitcom with a LOST-like mythology. And they do a ridiculously good job at remembering small details and bringing them up episodes, or seasons later. It's a great great show and we're coming up on its final season. Sure, the comedy gets stale in these later seasons, but it still can churn out some really good episodes, and the plot has never been better. I recommend it!
Prison Break - 1st season was the best, but the rest isn't terrible. Worth a watch!
Arrested Development - 1st 2 seasons are a master class in perfect comedy. season 3 was funny enough. Season 4 was a netflix original and experimental. It worked for the most part and pays off after watching the full season.
Terra Nova - Put it at the bottom of your list. I recapped it, but it could have been so much better than it was. Obviously, it got cancelled so it didn't have a big audience by the end!
Sons of Anarchy - AWESOME show. 1st season takes time for it to find its legs, but it's been great ever since.
I'll throw Justified on the list for you too. Another great one. We binge watched SOA and Justified in 2 separate summers. Great stuff. (just noticed Justified was in your next paragraph lol)
The Wire - binge watched that one a couple years back too. The hype is real. Right up there with The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Mad Men and LOST as the best dramas ever. (Yes, I throw LOST in with the cable dramas!)
The Shield - Never finished season 1...Maybe one day I'll go back and watch it all.
True Blood - Entertaining, but not a lot of depth there. Just a lot of boobs. lol Seasons 1 and 2 were probably the best. But we're still watching.
The Sopranos - oh boy...you haven't seen it!?! Subscribe to HBO for a few months, use HBO GO (if you can get it on a device or on your television) and watch that whole series right now!! lol It will never be on Netflix, I don't think.
But yeah you're right..there's plenty on netflix for you to focus on for now.
Hunger Games - I read the 3 of those books in like a month in between my Game of Thrones reading (which took me a year to get through. lol) They were quick reads. The movie was decent, obviously the book was better. But looking forward to Catching Fire.
WHEW...I didn't help you much did I? You watch plenty to join in in our daily discussions on the TV Addicts Blog. I'm only recapping Revolution and Walking Dead these days. But, maybe I'll pick up the new JJ Abrams show by the Fringe Team (Can't remember the name but it stars Karl Urban). I'm kinda past my hardcore recapping days.
I think you have the right shows at the top of your list since they're all on Netflix. You can't go wrong with FNL, 24 or Fringe. I'd do one of them next. Alias is good but I'd make it secondary to those. Obviously, I'd recommend Sopranos or The Wire above everything.
SOA or Justified would be a good one too since they're still currently airing and you could join in in our discussions if you caught up. (SOA returns September)
Whoops forgot to mention Deadwood - great great show, but no ending. HBO cancelled and they talked about a movie to close it all up that never happened.
Anyway...this would've been a great discussion on the TV Addicts Blog and now it can just stay here as a promotion for that blog! :-) Enjoy the rest of LOST. You have plenty of good TV waiting for you afterwards!
Now this one is surely going into my "10 favorite Lost episodes" list. What an episode. Clearly the best one so far this season.
Benjamin Linus is probably one of the best characters I've ever seen on TV. I've loved to hate this guy for so long I never thought I might feel compassion for him one day. Yet I was almost in tears by the end of the episode. He's done his fair share of horrible things, most often not thinking about it twice. But one thing that haunts him to this day is letting Alex die. We see him face a similar choice in his Sideways story: achieve his own goals and destroy Alex's life, or remain a lowly high-school teacher, but give that girl a chance to pursue her dreams? This time, he does the right thing. What a beautiful redemption moment for our lovable villain! I don't know how these sideways flashes are going to factor in the general story, but it's wonderful the way they let us witness these changes in the characters' lives. And that isn't all, we also get to see Ben make his peace with Ilana and crew. The mighty Ben, tearfully admitting he's going to go with Flocke because no one else will have him! That's one broken person. But the future hopefully looks just a little brighter for him.
Jack and Richard waiting for that dynamite stick to go off (or not) was some great television as well!
Miles has certainly grown on me since season 4. I remember you saying it might happen, Mike - turns out you were right! The guy doesn't even need to be paired up with Hurley anymore to be hilarious.
Widmore finally gets to the island. Another thing we've been waiting forever to happen. Now we just need to get Desmond back here and the party can start for real :) Question is, who's side he's going to be on?
This was a great episode, I totally agree!
To pull a redemption episode off for Ben Linus is tough but they did a great job. And they continue to explore his character in the final episodes. He was a great one.
Yep, Jack finally embracing his destiny...and going back to the whole thing of him trying to jump off the bridge but not be able to (season 3 finale)....good stuff.
Yeah...I think the writers figured out what works best for Miles along the way. But he certainly became a better character!
No comment on anything else. You should know by now anyway! :)
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I feel like I've been reading this blog for weeks... I had done only about 80 or so comments over a couple of days... The rest took me from 10pm to now 2.15am... I've sat on the couch, the the stairs, then in the kitchen and finally in the dining room and I've got to the end!
Now I've got to the end I can't remember anything I was going to say... So I'll get on with the next episode...
I cast them now to my TV from my phone and the last episode the audio was annoyingly out of sync... Is the TV's fault I think, or my phone, not sure as not done extensive testing, except youtube projected to TV is out of sync also so it not just Lost... Anyway more Lost answers required... Sleep can wait!
You need to take notes so you don’t forget. I took notes when i watched for the blog but ended up rarely looking at them. Just part of my process. Lol can’t believe you’re reading it all. That’s crazy. Enjoy the next one!
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