609 – Ab Aeterno

Review:

The first time I watched this episode I was half asleep and jet-lagged.  I managed to miss most of the extremely obvious Biblical connotations.  But when I wrote this post and watched it again it took me almost three hours to finish it.  I had to keep on pausing, rewinding and rewatching those crazy scenes with all my favorite characters.

I want to give a big high five to all the Lost community, for once we were almost completely right as a group about a backstory.  The Richard backstory has been on our minds for a long time, and looking back we guessed a lot of it right.  So kudos to you and me and all your friends for finally getting a theory right.

This episode was about Richard, but when you analyze the episode it was the Jacob/Smokey struggle that really stood out.  This episode clearly defined what’s been going on between those two for hundreds of years.  That conversation back in the Season 5 finale is now completely understood.

The Biblical parallels are extremely obvious and that shouldn’t shock anyone.  In stories with supernatural good vs. evil characters most people think first of the Genesis account and the subsequent struggles between God and the Devil.  Of course we’ve all been distracted by the Egyptian overtones, but looking back we should have seen their relative positions coming.

The first part of the episode dealt with Ilana a little.  She got a fake little flashback.  Then Jack had a little bit of fun, you can see how every time you see him he’s slowly transforming into a willing Candidate.  Then at the end of the episode we got a great scene with Hurley and Richard and a ghost.  I really believe that Hurley is becoming the prime Candidate.  He’s just too good at this stuff.

This episode was just terrific.  The only complaint I have is that the wine metaphor was really bad.  Besides that it was perfect.  You should no by now how much I love it when they depart from the regular Lost format.  10.0/10.0

607 – Dr. Linus

Review:

Well that’s a rarity, a happy Lost episode.  I shouldn’t really call it happy.  It was probably melancholy at best.  But still, at the end I was feeling extremely happy.  That hasn’t happened on Lost in years, since The Constant.

We saw some great guest stars, all relating to Ben, of course.  We saw Alex, and this time it was actually her; Roger, the nice version; and Widmore, coming to cause trouble, no doubt.

Poor Richard was feeling suicidal, but Jack was there, as usual, to brighten the mood.  They had a very interesting talk and in the end Jack managed to share some of his faith with Richard.

That Ben/Ilana face-off scene was one of the most gratifying moments in Lost history.  It might have even been worth an Emmy for Michael Emerson.  And having Ilana give him another chance was just too great.  Ben chose the right side.  Who knew the writers would redeem Ben this early into the final season.

The final scene at the beach was very obviously a throw-back to the season 1/2/3 endings.  The beach people doing menial duties, the slow motion, the soundlessness, the slowly triumphant music, the reunion on the beach.  At least this time there weren’t any awkward hugs with Red-shirts.

I really enjoyed this episode.  The Jack and Richard stuff was great, it showed that Jack is actually progressing towards his destiny.  But this wasn’t a Jack episode or a Richard episode, it was about Ben.  And for once Ben didn’t do what he thought he had to do.  He actually changed, I never really believed that this guy was going to change.  As Jacob would say “just progress”.  For some very surprising progress and a happy ending I’ll give this episode a 8.0/10.0.

Good vs Evil: Jacob & “Locke”

It’s been a while since I did a Good vs. Evil post, and I’ve put this one off for a long time.  I mostly want to write this now because it seems like everyone is grasping at straws trying to figure out if we’ve been misled, maybe Jacob isn’t as nice as we like to believe.  I think it’s possible that people have lost some perspective about the issues.

And one disclaimer before I continue.  I feel very strongly we can discuss whether someone is good or evil.  I know many people dislike it when I debate these things, they wants more vagueness, they don’t want their favorite characters pigeon-holed.  But I like drawing lines in the sand.  I want there to be barriers between good and evil actions.  In the end of this show there will be two side, and I don’t think they will both be good and both be evil.  I’m pretty sure there will be villains and there will be heroes.

And another thing, I have to write this post about Jacob and “Locke”/Smokey because they are undoubtedly on opposite sides, if I write about one of them then it affects the other one.

604 – The Substitute

Review:

See, this is why we should always trust the writers.  Can you imagine the headache we would have had if this episode was episode 303.  Without a Kate episode to bring things back down to Earth the show would have accelerated needlessly fast.  We need this alternating pace so our heads don’t explode.

But enough about last week, let’s get on with this review.

Off the Island Locke’s life begins to self-destruct.  But this time he’s not alone. Helen, Hurley and Rose are there to catch him and set him back on his feet (not literally).  Locke postpones his fated meeting with Jack, but we all know it’s coming, “it’s destiny”.  And right at the end we get a fun little reunion with surprising connotations: Ben is off the Island, and more importantly he’s a history teacher DUN DUN DUUUUN!!

Things aren’t as rosy on the Island.  It turns out “Locke” didn’t really need Richard, he just wanted to punch him and then try to convince him that he’s really a nice guy.  It didn’t work.

So “Locke” moves on to Sawyer, and has more success with him.  Or does he?  I’m convinced that our favorite con-man isn’t stupid enough to be conned by “Locke” and that he’s wise to his manipulations.

“Locke” does us a favor and tells us, in his very biased way, about Jacob’s scholarship program called Name on the Wall.  It turns out Jacob was looking for Candidates, and we have his Master List to prove it.  “Locke” thinks it was more of a hit-list and that these people were possible replacements for Jacob.  I’m not buying it.  I’m sure Jacob was watching these people closely, but I don’t think he was killing them, and I doubt he was hoping to die and get replaced soon.

I see this episode as a journey of discovery.  Sure it sounds ridiculous, but that really does sum it up.  It wasn’t a big flashy action episode, well besides that stressful ladder scene, it wasn’t an insane finale or a turning point.  But we learned a lot and many lines were drawn in the sand.  It’s one of those episodes like The Man Behind the Curtain and The Shape of Things to Come that is just a dream come true for theorists and mythologically obsessed fans.  8.5/10.0.

On a side note, I’ve noticed a pattern in the episodes so far.   First we get a two part episode about all of our characters with most people getting flashbacks, then we get a Kate episode, then a Locke episode.  Sound familiar?  It harkens back to Season 1.  We’ll see if I’m right next week, according to the pattern it should be a Jack episode next.  (Don’t correct me if I’m wrong.)

602 – LA X (part 2)

Review:

(Sorry for the confusion everyone, I prematurely published this last night before it was done.)

So I can’t give this episode the same credit I gave the premiere, for the invention of this new and wonderful format, but that still doesn’t make this a bad episode.

This is the episode where we finally get to see the Temple, inside and out.  That’s a pretty big accomplishment.  With the Temple comes a lot of Others action, always a favorite of mine.

We also get a last word from Juliet, “it worked”.  I have a feeling that line will be extremely significant as this season goes on.

Back on the beach there is quite a bit of fun.  “Locke” takes control of the situation.  First he makes sure Ben feels as bad as possible about what he’s done, then he spouts off some actually logical assessments of the Oceanic survivors, then he takes down Richard and throws him over his shoulder.  This guy means business.

In the Islandless timeline we’re left with mostly a Kate story.  She escapes from under the Marshall’s care and pretty much gets away.  We get our first glimpse of Claire in a long time.

Jack loses Christian and has a run-in in with the strangely positive Locke.  They get along and Jack promises to fix Locke.  Kind of a great setup for future episodes.

The contrast between the two Lockes, on the Island and off the Island is quite amazing.  Terry O’Quinn is angling for another Emmy.

Oh yeah Sayid didn’t die.  Yeah, who would have thought he’d survive?  Truly shocking (I need to find a way to properly express sarcasm, it never really comes out right).

I think I’m still buzzed from the excitement of this new format so I might not be being totally objective here.  I’d say this episode counts at about a 9.0 on my scale of awesomeness

601 – LA X (part 1)

Review:

I started watching this episode thinking that I was not going to enjoy it.  I thought that either we’d have a timeline reset or not, it was one way or another.  I would have been unhappy either way.  With the Reset I would have been bored with that time period and I would have hated to see all that “progress” disappear.  Without the Reset, Juliet and Daniel died for nothing, and frankly with a title like LA X and news that every former cast member was coming back, it wasn’t possible for there not to be a Reset.  So I pretty much ignored Lost during the hiatus.  If I spent too much time thinking about it I would make myself angry.

At Comic-Con Darlton asked us to trust them.  And I’m very glad that I did.  They are geniuses.  I would never have guessed that they were doing to diverging timelines.  I’ve heard a few bloggers suggest it as a possibility, but frankly I rarely believe anything my fellow bloggers say, I wouldn’t say that to their face, but it’s true.  Seeing it in action is just glorious.  It’s literally the best of both worlds.

As for this episode specifically, it was awesome.  The inevitable scene that showed that the plane didn’t crash and then underwater Island reveal was perfectly devastating (not unlike the underwater Oceanic 815 wreckage).  At that point I was ready to resign myself to the fact that the writers had chosen the more boring route of starting over.

But that was just the first intro.  The second was another slow reveal of another timeline.  Too good.  Suddenly we were presented with a new format and an amazing new story.

Cut to the beach and we have more insanity.  It’s casually revealed that “Locke” is Smokey.  Smokey tears up some people with guns and blows our mind (what’s new).

Then Jacob shows up to visit Hurley and it turns out he’s very dead but he isn’t helpless, he seems to have a plan, or at least hope.  It’s very comforting to hear Jacob giving orders even from beyond the grave.

All of this is peppered with visits from characters we thought dead.  Charlie and Boone were exciting to someone out there, not me.  But the return of Juliet was quite wonderful.  I still wish that Juliet and Sawyer could have had a happily ever after, but I realize I’m being naive.  That’s not the kind of show I signed on for.  What we did get was a small amount of closure and at least a new final image of Juliet (If I have to see that scene with Juliet’s slow death again… well I’ll outline my plans below).

My expectations for this episode were at about a 7 maybe an 8, but this is honestly a 10.0, mostly for the introduction of this glorious new format (Smokey=”Locke” didn’t hurt).

Season 6 Character Promos

Here are all the promotional pictures of the cast for Season 6.  These include some beautiful shots of some truly terrible backdrops.  Enjoy!

Ilana

Richard

Claire

The Third Lost Last Supper

I wouldn’t mind a new poster for season 3, but apparently that’s not happening.  Instead we have another version of The Last Supper.  This one is more significant, instead of staring at Locke or staring at the camera, the characters are all doing their own thing.  (Also, I’m quite thankful that this promo was obviously a real picture instead of a air-brushed composite of separate character pictures like last seasons cast picture and this seasons teaser poster.)

I found this picture on pretty much every important Lost blog: DarkUFO, DocArzt, Lost.about.com.

This requires some analysis.  So here goes.

Lost the Last Supper (official)

ABC has finally released a high-resolution version of the Last Supper promo picture.  Unfortunately they also took another picture where the actors seem to break the fourth wall and ruin the original scene, oh well.

Lost’s Last Supper

UPDATE 1: Check out the official high res version here.

UPDATE 2: And check out some new versions of that picture here.

DocArzt has uncovered one of the best Lost cast pictures to date.  It’s a recreation of the Last Supper.

Check ‘er out:

UPDATE – Look a new version:

I remember when Battlestar Galactica did this.  It was better that time, more hidden meaning, better expressions on everyone’s faces, not just all staring at the Jesus stand-in.  But this photo is still pretty awesome, it expresses what we all want to know: what is “Locke” going to do next?

I would absolutely love it if someone could find a better version of this picture.  I’ll keep my eye out, but if you find one please let me know.

- izi