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.

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

Foreign Theories: When the Statue Fell

This theory isn’t actually very foreign.  It was proposed by a reader of this blog, Parisa.  You can read her comment here.

What she proposes is that when Locke turned the Frozen Donkey Wheel in episode 505 – This Place is Death, that caused an earthquake.  Miles actually mentioned an earthquake, I had completely forgotten about that.  If you’ll recall when Locke turns the wheel, our group is on the Island at a time when the Statue is still standing.  The only other time we’ve seen that statue standing is in the opening scene of 516 – The Incident.  It’s very possible that those two scenes happened at the exact same time.  And let’s all suspend our disbelief for a second and remind ourselves that this is Lost, that kind of coincidence isn’t out of the ordinary.

So the point of all that was to show that Locke turning the Wheel was likely the cause of the statue to fall.

But the theories not over yet.  Parisa next says that turning the Wheel also caused the Island to move and possibly scoop up a certain ship that we saw floating in the water near the Island.  The next time we see the Black Rock (assuming that the ship is the Black Rock) it was in the middle of the jungle.

That’s a very tidy little theory, and I found it extremely convincing.

What do you think?

– izi

516 (& 517) – The Incident

Review:

So that was fun(ish).

I’ll try to start on a positive note.  Jacob was awesome!  Who knew he would be so likable.  I kinda expected him to be quite distant and cold.  But he was great.  And that storyline that they started with Jacob and his nemesis was pretty epic.  It’ll make for some great conflict next year (provided history isn’t erased, hahaha).  New “Locke” is going to make for a very interesting villain.

That was a pretty epic reveal.  It was all for shock value, it didn’t serve any real purpose except to confirm our suspicions about this new “Locke”. But really, it surprised me, and really raised the bar.

Uh oh I’m running out of nice things to say.  Damnit, why did Juliet have to die?  I’m back to having no one left to like anymore.  This is going to be season 1 all over again.  The only people I like are guest stars.

The flashbacks in this episode were slightly interesting, but they didn’t really hold my attention.  The two good ones were Hurley’s and Ilana’s.  The other ones were just filler.  (Especially Juliet’s, what the hell was that?)

The one thing about this episode that I liked was the discovery of this new part of the story with Jacob, his nemesis and that new world.  That will give me a lot of fodder for theorizing over the break.  I could live without the rest of the episode.  So where does that leave us?  How much should I give the finale that I was almost completely unimpressed with?  It can’t be less that 5, that’s not giving Jacob enough credit.  but it’s definitely not more that 8.0.  I’d say 7.0/10.0  A disappointing end to an epic season.  (Jump to the bottom for more discussion on the score, I know many of you will be surprised/pissed about the score.)

Foreign Theories: Top 11 Time Travel Pitstops

It might be a stretch to call this a theory.  Doc Arzt has created a little list of some of the fun historical moments of the islan that he looks forward to seeing this season.  It’s something that I was thinking about recently but I didn’t want to blog about.  He gets all the important points and I encourage you to check it out here.  Although if it was my list I’d put Rousseau first, and I wouldn’t list the Real Henry Gale, I couldn’t care less about him.

– izi

405 – The Constant

Review:

I cried the first time I watched this episode, and I cried again when I rewatched it this time.  This episode is glorious and a half.  It manages to mix intense and confusing sci-fi with a perfectly written love story.  Wow, I can’t tell you how much I love this episode.

And not only that but it includes all of my favorite characters.  Desmond was my first favorite character and his love story with Penny was my favorite storyline.  Then Daniel came along and I questioned my complete loyalty to Desmond.  Now that Desmond and Penny’s love story is mostly over Daniel is my favorite character but I still love them all.

I also love sci-fi themes and I love how these writers do it.  They insist on making it logical, which is reassuring and entertaining at the same time.  It’s all great fun.

I also found out a lot by rewatching this episode.  Like Locke’s possible fate, and the importance of nosebleeds.

If I could give it more than 10 I would.  10.0/10.0

319 – The Brig

Review:

It doesn’t even seem like there is a flashback in this episode.  Technically it’s an on-island flashback with Locke.  So we see what Locke did with The Others over the past few episodes, including some very enlightening conversations with Ben and Richard.

Locke also comes to the beach and gets poor Sawyer to kill Anthony.  It was nice to have some closure on Sawyer previous life, but it was tragic to see him kill Anthony.

Also Naomi was hidden from the beach camp and was interrogated by Sayid (nicely, for a change).  We also got some insight into Jack’s big finale plan.

This episode addressed a lot of questions about the Others.  It didn’t provide answers but it showed them in their natural environment and it hinted at Locke’s place with them.  It also gave us some more info about the “plane at the bottom of the ocean story”.

Great episode, tragic, but great. 9.5/10.0

124 – Exodus (part 2)

Review:

Rousseau’s surprisingly well thought out and executed plan comes to a head in this episode when she steals Claire’s baby.  Claire has a slight flashback of attacking Rousseau.  Meanwhile Arzt makes himself useful by blowing up.  Sawyer, Jin and Michael waste a little bit of time on the raft by almost losing the rudder, but that’s about it.  The flashbacks are not terribly memorable, and there is little mythology involved.

This episode is very well paced and extremely exciting.  But like I said earlier nothing memorable really happens.  If I didn’t know that Smokey was about to appear I wouldn’t be so charitable.  I’ll give it a 8.0/10

(Note: in case you care, I split this episode up right at the part where Smokey appears at about 43 minutes in.)

109 – Solitary

Review:

I didn’t recall this episode being as good as it is.  Sayid’s stories really take a nosedive after this point, I think I lost respect for him after he fell in love with Shannon.  This episode sets up a lot of storylines.  It introduces Rousseau and tells her story.  It introduces Ethan, as a nice strange man.  Sayid also finds the wire on the beach that leads to The Looking Glass.  The Black Rock is also introduced briefly.  And Danielle tells Sayid there are Others on the island, and on a related note Sayid hears the voices for the first time.  That’s pretty dense for an episode when the secondary storyline involves setting up a golf course.  In all this was a surprisingly good episode, 8.0/10