Time to Die

The show’s almost over, the clock is ticking.  We all have to ask ourselves, who’s going to die?  And, more importantly, are we ready for our favorite character’s death?

As you probably know, I was extremely shocked when Ilana blew up.  For some reason I thought she was safe.  But no one is safe.  The show is nearly finished and many people must die before it ends.  So I want to look at each of the characters and try to prepare you, and myself, for their possible deaths.

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612 – Everybody Loves Hugo

Review:

I’m still reeling from everything that happened in this episode.  I had to wait a day to write this post in the hopes that I would calm down a little (it didn’t work).

So Ilana’s dead.  I didn’t see that coming.  In fact seconds before she died I assured my friends that she wouldn’t die.  It felt odd having the rug pulled out from under me like that.  For the rest of the episode I was paranoid.  I think the floodgates are opening, people are going to start dying, and quickly.  It’s a scary thought.  As I said a few times during the episode, every thing’s changed.

Back to the story.  On the Island Hurley was struggling through leadership problems.  He has no actual authority or even much of a plan, but he has unwarranted conviction.  So far that’s worked for him.  Who knows where it’s going to get him.

Desmond had a little fun with Locke on the Island.  He was thrown down a well at the end of the episode, but I don’t think many of us believe that he’s actually dead.  Vincent will find him and go get help.

Then there’s that final scene.  I don’t even know what to say about that.  It’ll be up there as one of the most shocking moments in Lost history.  It’s one of those endings that causes a room to stay silent for minutes after the shows has ended.

I can see no reason why this episode shouldn’t get a ten.  We got a heartfelt apology from Michael, an answer to the Whispers mystery, Hurley and Libby got together, Hurley crossed over between timelines, Ilana died, “Locke” tried to kill Desmond and Desmond tried to kill Locke.  I have a feeling that these episodes are just going to get more and more intense.  If you were worried that the episodes weren’t feeling “final” enough, well I think that’s changed now.  10.0/10.0

610 – The Package

Review:

Yay!  A character that I like is back!  Poor Desmond is having a pretty rough life.  That’s what he gets for having a happy ending before the show ends.  I knew that was a bad idea.

Widmore and “Locke” have their fateful reunion.  It was surprisingly early, but that’s forgivable.  I’m sure we’ll see a lot more from these two.  (I’m also betting that Widmore will be dead sooner than we might expect.)

Meanwhile, on the beach, Richard finally realizes that he’s smart so he comes up with a plan.  He decides that they have to destroy the Ajira plane so that “Locke” can’t leave.  Of course their plan will change once Widmore gets involves.

It’s possible that this was the most entertaining Jin and Sun flash (be it -back, -forward or -sideways).  That’s not saying much though.  I was happy to see Mikhail again… heh heh heh.

I’d say a third of this episode was totally useless so I’ve give it a 6.5/10.0  that’s pretty good for a Kwon episode.

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.)