The Death and Life of John Locke

John Locke is alive! Shall we shout it from the rooftops? Of course, as long as we've known John Locke was in that coffin, we've known that Ben intended for him to return to the Island, which suggested to me that he might not be staying in that coffin. Still, I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. Plane lands, John's good as new. Boy, that was easy. New John seems a bit dazed, like the first time he landed on the Island. So far, he appears completely serene, and I loved the crinkly smile on his face when he bit into that juicy mango, reminding me of his orange peel smile way back in the first season. The smile that earned such a disgusted look from Kate; their relationship hasn't improved much. Anyway, I saw John talking to Ilana on the preview, but I figured that was an off-Island moment and that he was recalling what happened when he turned the donkey wheel as a death-like experience. I didn't think we'd just suddenly see him walking and talking back on the Island.

These writers are making it really tough to figure out who, if anyone, is trustworthy. The first time we saw Abaddon, he was freaking Hurley out, and the ominous air and diabolical name weren't marks in his favor. And it is because of him that John wound up on the Island. But landing on the Island was the best thing that ever happened to John. And seeing Abaddon again, carting John here, there and everywhere before finally falling victim to Ben, he really seemed more helpful than harmful. And also more of a lackey than a mastermind. Widmore's Tom Friendly. So was he as evil as Hurley thought? Much as I love Hurley, he seems to have spent most of his time off the Island having nervous breakdowns, so I wonder just how useful he is as a judge of character at this particular point in his life.

I suspected for a long time that Charles Widmore was much more important than his role as a flashback character might lead us to believe. Generally, I've been leaning toward him being sinisterly significant, but could it be that he's really a pretty decent guy? Even if he murdered his fellow teenage Other and sent a boatload of C4 to the Island? He sure doesn't strike me as a nice guy. But who's worse, Ben or Charles? And where does Ms Hawking fit into all this? I do think that Charles had a huge hand in orchestrating Desmond's path to the Island and that his derisive treatment was less about Desmond being unworthy of Penny and more about driving him to enter that race. I also wonder if he had anything to do with Libby showing up at just the right time to give Desmond her boat, and if we're ever going to get a little more back story on her.

Both Charles and Ben really played on John's longing to be special in The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham. The odd thing is that while apparently those two are epic rivals, they both seem to see John as crucial to succeeding in their plans. They also both denied to John that he was supposed to die. But Ben evidently didn't mean it; did Charles? Would a completely different scenario unfold if John had returned to the Island as passenger instead of cargo? I have to say that while I don't trust Charles, at least not yet, he did seem to come off better here than Ben, who I keep half-forgetting is nearly as skilled an actor as Michael Emerson. I loved his giddiness in wrapping his mind around the concept of John’s meeting him only four days ago, when he remembered it as 50 years ago. (Speaking of which, if he ruled the Island for 30 years, mustn’t Penny have been conceived there? Because he sure didn’t seem in charge yet at 17, and Penny is well over 20.)

Ben's big scene with John was one of the most gripping in LOST history. Generally speaking, I'm not sure any two actors on the show have more intense chemistry than Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn. What a confrontation! It reminded me of the climactic scene in Scent of a Woman, and though I knew that Ben's determination to save John must be motivated primarily by self-interest rather than actual human concern, it sure did seem for a minute there that he genuinely cared about John. His emotional pleas touched me, and as I looked at the clock I thought, "Gee, maybe he sincerely tried to stop John from killing himself but John didn't listen." When he succeeded in talking him down, it was a thrilling moment, but there was so little time left in the episode, I did entertain the thought that now that he had control of the cord, Ben might turn all murderous. But why go to the trouble of stopping the suicide just to brutally strangle him moments later? (Side note: Sort of interesting that John and his father died the same way...) Did he always intend the evening to end with John's death, or was that sudden improvisation? He was surprised, and apparently pleased, to learn that Jin was alive. Then he heard about Ms Hawking, and he snapped. Had he just been waiting for enough information for him to continue his mission without John, or did the specific mention of her send him into a panic? It almost seemed to be the latter. I'm wondering if it was Ms Hawking who informed Ben that the coffin containing John Locke would have to return to the Island. His parting shot - "I'll miss you, John, I really will" - didn't carry much of an indication that he expected to see John again.

I don't think that Ben was supposed to be on that plane to the Island. While Jack, Kate and Hurley vanished and materialized in the jungle in perfect condition, Ben wound up grievously injured and stuck with the rest of the passengers. Of course, he wasn't in such good shape to begin with. But I wonder if all of Ben's orchestrations were mostly for the purpose of hitching onto the Oceanic Six on their return to the Island, since he couldn't get back on his own. I have to laugh at John's calm identification of Ben as "the man who killed me." He's being surprisingly forthright with everybody back on the Island, and Ilana and Caesar must think he's a bit loony. Given the way their relationship progressed the last time Ben tried to kill John, I don't see John trying to avenge himself. Mostly, I think he's going to want a really good explanation, and Ben will probably give him one, and it will probably be mostly bogus, and John will probably be only slightly skeptical. I do think the idea of Ben having ousted Charles seems pretty plausible, though I don't know if I buy the three decades of peaceful protection. Seems like the Hostiles were causing a lot of trouble in those years. So maybe getting rid of Charles was the best thing Ben could have done for the Island.

When John decided to kill himself, what were his motivations? Did he do it because Richard said he had to die or because he was just so darn miserable? Or both? It didn’t seem to me that he wanted to end his life; maybe he thought that was the only way to get through to the Oceanic Six, but I don’t really see the reasoning behind that. It seemed to me that he didn’t try hard enough to sway the people he went to visit. He gave up more easily than I expected. Then again, he certainly was poorly received. But Charles didn’t put a timeline on John’s mission, and neither did Christian or Richard. What was to keep John from trying again? Did he feel too helpless, stuck in a wheelchair and minus his chauffeur? I wonder if Charles knows at this point that John is dead, and that the castaways are headed to the Island. How does that fit into his master plan? Is he upset, or is he satisfied?

Walt was the only one who really seemed pleased to see John. That brief conversation was the happiest we saw John in his entire time as Jeremy Bentham. He seemed to be radiating paternal affection for the teen who, for John, had so recently been just a boy. Walt always had a special bond with John, and he was one of the few castaways who actually wanted to stay on the Island and took deliberate steps to keep himself there. So of all the castaways, I think Walt would have been most receptive to John’s invitation, had he issued it. But he didn’t. Why? Because he couldn’t face the idea of Walt finding out what really happened to his father? Maybe Walt’s dreams spooked him too. He brushed them off so Walt wouldn’t worry, but if he was foretelling future Island turmoil, perhaps John didn’t think the Island was a safe place for him. Not that it’s really so much safer for anybody else... I hope that wasn’t the writers’ way of saying goodbye to Walt once and for all.

Hurley was friendly enough to begin with. When he thought John was dead. I thought that snippet of conversation was probably the funniest bit of dialogue in the episode. John’s gently confused reaction to Hurley’s queries was priceless. But his demeanor changed quickly when he realized it was John in the flesh. Even at that point he was somewhat collected, able to carry on a rational conversation, but as soon as Abaddon entered the equation, Hurley went buggy. On a side note, I didn’t know Hurley was so artistic. Any significance to his choice of subject?

Hurley was a frustrating interview, but John could have brushed that off as mental instability on Hurley’s part. The rest? Not so much. Interesting that he didn’t go to see Sun; he seemed to think staying away from her was better than trying to lie about Jin. Maybe he didn’t think he’d be able to convince her. When Ben said, “A promise is a promise,” I thought he was going to suggest that he talk to Sun instead of John, a neat little loophole. The ring fell into Ben’s lap as an unexpected bargaining chip. If John hadn’t been determined to honor Jin’s request not to bring Sun back, he probably would have found her more receptive than the rest. But it didn’t work that way. Sayid was calm, rational and pleasant throughout their conversation, but he was also condescending, and I can’t argue with his notion that John is being yanked around. Abaddon, Ben, Richard, Charles, Christian... who isn’t manipulating him? Good for Sayid for deciding to devote his time to charitable organizations. It’s hard to fault him for channeling the angst from two horrific years into physical labor for the good of others, and for finding that preferable to what John was proposing.

I can’t decide which meeting was worse, Jack or Kate. Jack was exhibiting clear signs of substance abuse. He was almost as surly and fuzzy-headed as he was in our first glimpse into his future. He was cruel and cutting, insisting that there was nothing special about John, or about any of them, for that matter. Also, John isn’t that much older than Jack. Two decades at most. I feel like the “sad old man” comment was partly a reflection of Jack’s still-unresolved father issues, which inevitably came up again. John’s mention of Christian really unsettled Jack and maybe was what ultimately drove him to start looking for the Island. Kate wasn’t looking so hot either. Lethargic and world-weary. Her quiet assessment of John, as a pathetic man who’d never loved anyone seemed unfair to me, but her “Look how far you’ve come,” while vicious, didn’t seem that out of line, particularly the “obsessed” part. John is obsessive by nature. That hasn’t changed. And it could still get him into trouble.

I don’t have anything particularly insightful to say here. Just that this episode was every bit as intense as I expected and that I’m glad John’s still going to be around. And I want to know what in the world was going through Ben’s head in that suicide/homicide scene. I’m guessing I’ll have to wait a while on that. Looks like we’re back to Jack’s gang and Sawyer’s group next week - and maybe, given the French title, Danielle will factor in there somewhere, too. I assume that moment the previews say we’ve all been waiting for is Sawyer’s reunion with Kate, though I’m getting a little tired of Kate’s petulance and am not sure how much I’m looking forward to that reunion after all. If Jack is there when it happens, which he probably will be, that could be really awkward. Frankly, I’m more interested in Sawyer’s reunion with Hurley...

Back to the Island (Boy, That Was Fast!)

It took four seasons to get the Oceanic 6 off the Island and four episodes to get them back on it. I was surprised at how quickly it all happened; before the season started, I would have guessed it would take them at least a season. So they took off on Ajira 316, a flight with as many parallels to Oceanic 815 as they could muster. And it starts all over again...

Of course, I was not surprised to see that the episode with this title had the most overt Christian overtones since Catch-22; it's a short leap from 316 to John 3:16, especially when you factor in John Locke. Instead of a monastery and a discussion of Abraham and Isaac, it was a church, and Ben, of all people, was giving Jack a lesson on the apostle Thomas. I really liked that scene. I liked how Ben was sitting there, hands folded, looking reverent, when Jack came in. How he stood up for Thomas, who I always felt a little sorry for. Or maybe it wasn't so much standing up for Thomas as warning Jack that he might be remembered more for doubting John than for his heroics in caring for the castaways. Or maybe he was comparing himself to Thomas. It's always hard to tell just what Ben is driving at, but I found the conversation fascinating, not least because Ben was so well-versed in the Gospel, or at least a small part of it. And there was just a hint of the Life and Death theme, and it was all very stirring. And then Ben said he had a promise to keep to an old friend, and I wanted to slug him.

I don't know when we're going to find out whether that "promise" was fulfilled. Ben was certainly upset and unsettled when he called Jack, but was it because he failed or because he succeeded but found that sort of revenge was not so satisfying after all? Or was he just upset because somebody beat him up? The most likely culprit there is Desmond, but it could have been Penny herself. Or maybe Sun or Sayid had something to do with it; could Widmore have tipped Sun off that Ben might try something? But Ben didn't seem bothered by their presence on the plane, and if they were involved, wouldn't they let Jack in on what was going on? In any case, things didn't go just how Ben intended, but whether or not Penny is still alive is a mystery that may hang over the rest of the season. Killing off Charlotte and Penny both would be a low blow, though, especially after Nadia last season. And when we get that back story on Annie, it might not be so pleasant. Sigh. Still, it's too early to give up on Penny yet.

I don't think we have to worry that Aaron got killed. He's too critical to the story. But his whereabouts are a big mystery too, and I wonder if we'll see him again this season. Kate was obviously distraught when she came to Jack, but was he forcibly taken from her, or did she leave him with someone because someone sold her on going back to the Island but she was too spooked by that dream she had about Claire to bring Aaron along? It seems like he's going to have to join them at some point. Maybe Walt will bring him back. Or Desmond, despite his seething protests that he was done with the Island. You can hardly blame him for hating Ms Hawking. Is she really on their side, or is she a sinister puppet master? There is something undeniably creepy about her.

I wonder if, after this week, we're done with John, since the episode ends with his death. Will we meet him in the past? Will he suddenly spring to life? Or is Terry O'Quinn no longer a part of LOST? It's hard to imagine a season and a half of the show without him. But the fact that he's a stand-in for Christian's corpse seems to make the resurrection theory slightly less likely. Unless it means that John springs to life and Christian winds up back in the box? Because Christian is an awfully lively corpse... Speaking of which, was that man really Jack's grandfather, or was "Granddad" just a nickname? Because he didn't look a day older than Christian to me. Then again, Anthony Cooper always looked way too young too. It was odd to see Jack's grandpa after all this time, seemingly a major part of Jack's life, but we didn't even know he existed up until now.

How did Sayid and Hurley know about the flight? My guess is that Sun found them and told them, and somehow she convinced them. Sayid was in handcuffs, but I'm not sure if he was really under arrest or if it was for show. The officer with him was talking to John in the preview, which makes me think she was in on it and that the handcuffs were mostly about recreating more conditions of the original flight. Meanwhile, I thought it was sweet that Hurley brought a guitar to represent Charlie, and the comic book was a good idea. But what I really loved was that he bought up the last 78 seats on the plane, trying to do something proactive to keep more people from getting killed. (What, incidentally, makes everyone so sure that they will survive the crash again?) Just a few days ago, Jack was at the point where he didn't care who he brought down with him; he just had to get back to the Island. Now at least he's worried about his fellow passengers, while Ben, who probably has no business returning to the Island at all, is aggressively indifferent. I'm a little surprised at how violently frightened Hurley is of Ben this season; is it just because of Sayid, or did John say something to him? He didn't seem to be that hugely spooked by Ben the last time they were together.

I was amused by Ms Hawking's dismissive comment to Jack that Ben was probably not telling the truth about not knowing about her secret lair with the pendulum (with the wonderfully Lewisian name of the Lamp Post). From what little we've seen of their interactions, she seems to view Ben as a pest. They're tenuously on the same team, but she doesn't have much respect for him. I also thought Ben's snippish reply to Jack about his mother teaching him how to read was funny, though even there he was lying. Unless he was motivated to learn how to read to escape the loneliness of not having his mother, or something like that. Not likely, though. I think it was just a smart-alecky response, and he said the first thing that popped into his head. I imagine he wishes his mother had taught him... Judging by the previews, he was also lying about not knowing John committed suicide; it looks like he actually facilitated it.

I was excited to hear Frank's name and then to see him, barely recognizable without his facial hair. I figured that he must know what was going on because it would be too coincidental otherwise, but it seems he was completely in the dark. "We're not going to Guam, are we?" Ha! Funniest line of the night. It was encouraging because it made me think that maybe he'd let the plane down nice and easy, since he was in the know. Perhaps no crashing would be involved. But then the plane started shaking, and there was a blinding light, and who knows what happened? How did Jack, Kate and Hurley get off the plane, and what became of everybody else? That opening scene was strange; I figured Jack was having a dream, recalling that first Island landing but bringing Kate and Hurley more immediately into it. It was a decent chunk of a scene that we saw repeated at the end, but I think the bookends made sense.

I wonder if we won't be seeing the Oceanic 5 (plus Ben and Frank) for a while after The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham; I'd say Sawyer's crew has a bit of catching up to do. What's Jin doing in a Dharma uniform? How much time has passed for him since John disappeared? I suspect that the guy sitting next to Hurley, the one who offered his condolences to Jack, survived the plane crash and will become a part of the gang. And surely Frank will fare better than the first pilot. I'm glad the focus stayed on Jack's crew for the whole episode; an awful lot needed to happen here, and I doubt many people minded leaving the Islanders for a while.

Originally, The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham was supposed to air first; no matter what, some backtracking would have been involved in that episode. I wonder what made them decide to change the order? I'm guessing we won't see the Islanders this week either. But we probably will see Walt, which is an exciting prospect. And this may be the last dose of Terry O'Quinn we get for a long while, so I'm prepared to enjoy it. And to predict that his name might be on that Emmy list again. Everybody on LOST is fantastic, but O'Quinn, Michael Emerson and Henry Ian Cusick are just a smidge above everybody else, I think, though that's partly because they're getting the best material. Jeremy Davies might actually have a shot this season too. But for now, I'm focusing on John...

Alas, Charlotte, We Hardly Knew Ye...

In an episode entitled This Island Is Death, it's not much of a surprise that some unpleasant things happened - the main one, of course, being that Charlotte, who uttered the titular phrase, died. I was hoping she would get cured somehow, or at least stick around for a while longer. Alas, no luck. I did find her comments about her childhood interesting. I still feel like there's a slight possibility that she could be Ben and Annie's daughter; it would've made them teenage parents, probably, and she would have left the island right around the time Alex was abducted. It seemed like Charlotte had blocked out her childhood, so it could be conceivable that she didn't recognize Ben. But unless she had her name changed, how could Ben not know who she was? He even tried to killer. So yeah, it's probably a pretty flimsy theory. But she's gotta be connected to somebody.

Also a bummer was Danielle's massacre of her shipmates, though we knew that was coming. The "sickness" appears to be alleged possession by Smokey; I don't know if they cracked up or she did. Robert did try to kill her, but only after she killed at least two of their party and was about to kill him. So he might have been desperate, not crazy. It did seem to me that the voice calling from underground was Smokey; the "I'm injured" was a laughable understatement, and the whole thing just seemed like a trap. Since they were at the Temple, I thought Jin might flash forward and meet up with a bunch of Others, but joining up with the castaways was better. His reunion with Sawyer was a rare and beautiful moment of jubilation. He got together with them faster than I expected, but I didn't mind.

The flashes got way out of hand in this episode; they were starting to give me a headache! John going down into the well seemed like a very bad idea given the frequency of the flashes, though there was something grimly funny about the sight of Sawyer tugging on that rope. I also thought Juliet's comment about their luck in landing in a time when the Orchid existed was a rather amusing indication that they were about to jump into a pre-Orchid moment. And the little exchange between Sawyer and Miles when Sawyer asked him to translate for Jin was good, though I knew about that one already, since Daniel Dae-Kim mentioned it in an article in TV Guide.

Smokey and Charlotte were mighty interesting, but perhaps the oddest thing of all was Christian showing up to guide John through the getting-off-the-island process. His delivery of the line questioning John's decision to listen to Ben was classic. I've been thinking of Christian as a sort of mouthpiece for Jacob; I'm starting to wonder if he actually is Jacob himself. That seemed to be implied in his conversation.

The off-island stuff was great too. I wasn't surprised to see Kate take off. A little more surprised about Sayid, but then he still has a deep grudge against Ben. I liked Sun's conversation with her daughter; it was the sweetest we've seen her in a long time. And I'm glad we got to actually see Ji Yeon; I was starting to wonder if there was something fishy about her absence. I thought it was great when Ben stopped the car and had his little pity party. And I did feel sorry for him, though given what Christian said, I can't help but wonder if his agenda doesn't quite line up with John's. I also loved when Jack said, "I thought John didn't come to see you?" and Ben replied, "He didn't, Jack; I went to see him!" Way to get off on a technicality... I think my favorite off-island moment, though, was when Desmond suddenly busted in out of nowhere and demanded to know what Ben, Jack and Sun were doing, and Ben said he figured the same thing he was doing. "You're here to see Daniel Faraday's mother?" he asked, provoking a startled facial response from Ben suggesting that he didn't realize Ms Hawking was related to Faraday. And of course, he didn't answer. But they all went into the church together, one happy little band - for the moment. I was hoping for some interacting between Desmond and Ms Hawking, but the disoriented look on his face when he saw her will suffice for now.

I guess that's about it for now, but I really enjoyed this episode and am anxious to see the next episode, which, according to IMDb, is John-centric. And also in two weeks. I was unaware of that; I guess I'll have to be extra patient!

Time to Brush Up on My French...

So The Little Prince was a Kate episode, to the extent that anything other than a Desmond storyline can be truly centered on one character at this point - and even Desmond's course is likely to collide with the Oceanic 6 by the time we see him again. In reality, this was one of the most integrated episodes of the series thus far, with the focus sprinkled all over the place, which is one nice thing about the current format. We get to see different people on the Island and off, so if Kate and Jack aren't your cup of tea, you won't have to wait long to see Sawyer and Locke.

I'm still not quite clear on how the book The Little Prince factors into this episode. It's a French book; could it be a little clue of what was to come toward the end? With all the fuss about Aaron, one would think that "little prince" refers to him, though it could also be Miles, who seems even more likely to be Wickmund's son after Daniel's conclusion that time-travel sickness first affects those with prolonged exposure to the Island. That certainly applies to Desmond, and I'm guessing we'll see how Charlotte figures into that before long. I didn't notice the actual novel lying around at any point in the episode, or the cartoon playing on TV. Maybe the reference is intentionally obscure.

I was led astray a few times in this episode. When we were trying to figure out who was trying to take Aaron, I guessed Claire's mother, and that seemed confirmed when we saw her later on. But then she wound up having nothing to do with Aaron - though I would think she would be suspicious now, and the Oceanic 6 may have to contend with her. I also was thinking that the castaways' last leap was to the night Desmond crashed, and when I saw it wasn't him I was momentarily disappointed - until I realized that getting Danielle's back story first-hand is a much more interesting development.

It did occur to me, after we saw Ben talking to his lawyer, that maybe he was behind the plot to get Aaron, but I don't see how he could have any legal claim to him. Or was he just hoping that Kate would be driven right into Jack's arms? No doubt his idea was quite convoluted, whatever it was. The funny thing is that if he'd managed to convince Hurley to come along with him, every member of the Oceanic 6 would have been sitting in the parking lot at the end of the episode. Convincing Sun and Kate to return to the Island might be extra tricky, though. I'm also troubled by the implication I've received from Entertainment Weekly that not every member of the Oceanic 6 will return. Where does that leave things? And if Ben has been focusing his post-Island energies on getting them back, why did he ever let them leave in the first place? Then again, could he have done anything to stop them?

We got very little Hurley in this episode, but that little bit was amusing, and the lawyer's intel indicated that maybe Ben and Sayid won't have to break him out of maximum security after all. Getting him to return to the Island might still be a hurdle, but at this point I think Sun is the main obstacle. I can't see her successfully murdering Ben right then and there, though, if only because that would prevent the inevitable confrontation between Ben and Penny. Jack and Sayid will have to intervene, and maybe Kate as well, though I think she's still awfully freaked out about Ben's presence. Her shock at seeing him was palpable.

Interesting to see that Jack wasn't especially in favor of Kate posing as Aaron's mom. I guess it makes sense, though, especially since as a doctor he would know how implausible it would be that she would have been six months pregnant at the time of the plane crash. I loved their little exchange at the end of the first scene. "Are you with me?" "I have always been with you." So much like Frodo and Sam in Return of the King: "I need you on my side, Sam." "I'm on your side, Mr. Frodo." Unlike Sam, however, Kate's loyalties have often been in question.

We're starting to revisit past events on the Island, which could lead to some pretty interesting intersections. Evidently John has watched enough Back to the Future to know that it's best to avoid contact with one's former self. As soon as he knew what the time frame was, he steered clear of the castaways' camps, though that didn't prevent Sawyer from seeing Claire give birth. I thought we might see Charlie and Jin, too, though I decided it would be rather silly to bring them back for such a short scene, especially when they only would have been in the background. Little did I know that Jin was on his way... Actually, I'm not clear on whether that scene was re-shot; maybe there was just some creative splicing going on.

Richard was hanging around the Orchid before John disappeared, so I imagine John is hoping to see him there. Otherwise, he may have some idea of how to get off the Island, but he's pretty unclear on what to do after that. He knows he has to get the Oceanic 6 back, but how are they supposed to find the Island? And why does he have to die? Libbie brought up the very pertinent point that Sawyer and company probably will not have lived three years by the time Jack and the gang get back. More likely, it'll just be 70 hours from the end of The Lie, and one of their jumps will take them to 2008. In other words, very fast-paced season, with a reunion before the end of it. Which leaves a big "Then what?" for season six, if nobody is trying to get off the Island or on it. Fixing all the mistakes of the first five seasons, perhaps?

I figured Jack would get into trouble for showing up in the hospital, and he did; I wasn't really counting on thugs trying to get Sayid while he was still a patient. It doesn't seem like anyone other than Ben would know that he was there. But if Ben's goal is to get the Oceanic 6 back to the Island, why would he send an attacker? The same reason he tried to take Aaron by force? What if the lawyer leaked that information to the public? Wouldn't that cause a big stir, and lots more problems? Anyway, if it's not a Ben scheme, then I suppose it could be somebody connected with Widmore or Abaddon or one of the guys Ben was having Sayid assassinate. Whoever it was, it's unsettling.

I can't decide if I'm glad that Sawyer now knows that Kate is alive. Maybe now he'll be a little less miserable. But if he still thought she was dead, the eventual reunion would be all the more dramatic... It's clear from his reaction to seeing her that he's very much in love with her. I'm not sure how much stock he puts in John's plan, but I think he's glad to have any kind of plan at all. I like the fact that, for the first time I can remember in the show, Sawyer said what could be considered a prayer, and a prayer of gratitude, no less. Of course, he immediately took it back - but that further suggests that he thought maybe, just maybe, Someone was listening.

It was a great episode, but the most exciting element by far was saved until the last minute, when we discovered that we were going to get to see the aftermath of Danielle's crash and, even more importantly, that Jin was alive. Yes, he somehow survived the explosion after all! And has apparently been semi-conscious for the past day or so. I always suspected that he was alive, but it sure was nice to see that it wasn't just wishful thinking. I went back and read the transcript of Solitary for hints of Danielle having met Jin; I suppose I should peruse the other episodes she appeared in as well. I can't recall anything. I do wonder, though, whether the mysterious illness she referenced could have something to do with the time-travel sickness. It probably won't be long before Jin is affected. I wonder if he will reconnect with Sawyer's group during Danielle's time? Danielle, by the way, seems very pretty, sweet and well-balanced. She appears to have her act totally together. But 16 years all by yourself surrounded by hostile forces would unhinge anybody.

I was frustrated by all the atmospheric barriers to my translating what Danielle and her crew were saying, though I doubt I would have caught much of it even if it hadn't been raining cats and dogs. My French is pretty rusty. I found a transcript that did provide a translation, and I didn't miss much.

The episode concludes with us knowing nothing about the people who were shooting at our pals, though the boats Sawyer and Locke used looked just like Karl's. That suggests "other Others," apparently not too far into the future since the camp looks freshly abandoned by Rose, Bernard, Vincent and whatever random redshirts have managed to survive this long. Those three (-plus) had better show up again before too long. I don't want a repeat of season three in terms of the Rose and Bernard quotient. Desmond, Claire and Frank have good reasons to be MIA; Rose, Bernard and Vincent, not so much. Otherwise, I'm very happy with the distribution of character time. The next episode is entitled This Place Is Death, which is very spooky and doesn't sound like something a native English speaker would say. That is, I'm guessing it's something Danielle or Robert or maybe some other member of their crew say about the Island. We shall see...

LOST: Mystery of The Island Puzzle (The Hatch) Review

You might just go as crazy-eyed as Desmond trying to uncover the secrets in this Hatch puzzle.

Jughead Shows Yet Again That Outstanding Desmond Episodes Are a Constant

Ahhh, Desmond. I got the impression from the lovely little interview with Henry Ian Cusick in TV Guide that this week's episode would be Desmond-centric, and I sure was glad to see that the conclusion I'd drawn had been correct. The first scene was a bit baffling initially, and worrisome too, as we didn't know just when it took place. Penny looked like she was having a pretty tough time of it, and for a moment I worried that this was some point further in the future than we've seen yet, and that she might not pull through. But she did, thank goodness.

And isn't their son adorable? Especially in that fantastic sweater? He looks a little older than two to me, but I can buy it. Of course, I was immediately curious about the name of the lad, and we didn't get that until the end of the episode. I confess I was hoping for Charlie; what a fitting way to honor him, especially considering the fact that he facilitated Desmond and Penny's reunion. It wasn't until his name was spoken, however, that it occurred to me that the name could also be a tribute to Grandpa. That seems pretty unlikely, though, since Desmond loathes him and Penny doesn't seem too fond of him either. Still, perhaps it's no accident that these two characters who played such a crucial role in Desmond's life have the same first name. (Maybe, in an instance of supreme LOST weirdness, angelic Charlie winds up on the Island in the 30s or 40s and grows up to be a hothead who snaps his comrade's neck, tangles with Richard and, many years down the line, can honestly say, "I'm my own grandpa.")

I caught myself feeling sorry for Widmore again this week and wishing Desmond would at least tell him Penny was all right. I guess that announcement would have been unnecessary; Widmore knew the two of them had found each other, and if something had happened to her, he would have been able to read it in Desmond's face. I was surprised at how compliant he was. Desmond was pretty gutsy, just barging into his office and making demands. Then again, perhaps Desmond is just playing right into Widmore's hand... I can't really blame Des for not telling him about his grandson. If you want a guy to leave you alone, it's best not to reveal something that enticing. (And if Charles and Charlie are the same person, it's really best that they don't meet... :-P )

I don't think that Widmore knows Ben is in L.A., though you would think he'd know most of the Oceanic Six are there and would suspect that Ben would try to rendez-vous with them. Still, if he knew Ben was there, I can't imagine him sending Desmond off without an explicit warning. Yes, he told Desmond to keep Penny safe, but he didn't point out that Ben intends to murder her. Whatever their vices, I do believe that Ben and Widmore are both devoted to their daughters, despite the Alex and Penny's apparent distaste for them most of the time. It's frustrating to realize that Desmond is headed off to the worst possible place he could go (and I cringed every time the word "promise" escaped his lips, because you know he's going back to that island, and I hate for him to keep breaking his promises to Penny). It's also aggravating that after all that build-up, we probably won't actually get that meeting between Desmond and Daniel's mom for a couple of months. The fact that she's a recluse in L.A. fits with what we saw of Ms Hawking last week, and the pop-up indicated that her first name is Eloise. I'm sure the show never mentioned that before; in any case, it's a juicy tidbit, since that's the name of Daniel's maze-running rodent. (Would he have meant that as a tribute or as substitutionary satisfaction of matricidal urges? Hopefully the former!)

We saw the maze again today, and it's clear that Oxford really did frown upon those experiments of Daniel's. Just what happened to that girl he apparently abandoned after inflicting severe brain damage upon her? I'm guessing that she offered to be his test subject for a human trial of his time traveling tests. Maybe he finally got to the point at which Eloise's brain didn't explode, and he thought the time was ripe for a human guinea pig, but something went horribly wrong. Widmore financially providing for the victim reminds me of some of Lionel Luthor's pet projects on Smallville. His seemingly altruistic endeavors generally have ulterior motives. Maybe he paid Daniel off, promised to take care of her if Daniel would do some work for him. Or maybe Daniel just panicked and bolted.

Unanswered questions in Desmond's past and future... Why was he kicked out of the army? I keep thinking we'll find out, but none of the Desmond episodes have explained it so far. I'd also forgotten about Desmond almost becoming a doctor. Was that back before the monastery? Desmond told Widmore that he raised his brothers. Will we ever get to meet any of them? Finally, are Desmond and Penny married? Obviously it would've had to be a covert wedding, but surely it wouldn't have been impossible to find a priest who would marry them. On an unrelated note, I've noticed that Desmond and Charlie both always seem to be wearing scarves off the island. Is that a big thing in England? I don't recall that it was... But scarves become both of them quite well.

I really can't say that I missed the Oceanic Six and Ben this week. Not only did we get all that great stuff with Desmond and Daniel, John was thrown into the mix as well. And golly, it's a good thing he didn't shoot that upstart back at the army camp. I'd already been pondering whether he might be this season's Keamy; certainly he doesn't seem like a nice guy. But young Charles Widmore? If John had killed him, I'd think that would have ripped a giant hole in the space-time continuum. But how is it that there are no consequences to John knifing one guy and Widmore killing another? Are we supposed to think that only a select few people are of any real importance in the grand order of the world, and the rest are dispensable redshirts? Or were those guys who died like Charlie, destined to die anyway, and originally were killed in some sort of skirmish around the same time?

Could it be that Widmore was tapped to be the leader of the Others? He said it was his island and would be again; maybe he was in charge at some point between 1954 and 1971, which as I figure it is around the time that Richard first appeared to Ben. Or maybe he was supposed to be, but something interfered. I'm back to thinking that Richard is probably tied to the Black Rock somehow and has achieved some sort of immortality. It would seem that his job is to serve as leader when the Others are between leaders; maybe once he finds someone who is able to prove himself worthy of the job, he can move on. Certainly it seems that Ben was a mistake; the ball was in his court when he saw the plane crashing, and he could have made everyone's lives so much easier by forming an alliance with the castaways then and there instead of waiting around until his folks and the 815ers had wiped half of each other out. Richard seems like a wise, level-headed leader, but he can also be ruthless. He killed those guys from the army (and then apparently stole their clothes). He seems to have been responsible for the death of Juliet's ex-husband, and I get the sense that he's the one who orchestrated the Purge. So he's not any less violent than Ben; he just seems more capable of making reasoned decisions, and he doesn't spend so much time lying and trying to manipulate people.

Daniel is good at thinking on his feet. It was impressive how quickly he managed to formulate a strategy for getting out of their situation alive, and uncanny how he actually managed to hit upon the soldiers' reason for being there. Unless he already knew about it, which given his knowledge of the island wouldn't be that surprising. Still, well done. And Richard seemed convinced by Daniel's declaration of love for Charlotte. It reminded me of The Princess Bride, when Inigo swore on the soul of his father that Wesley would reach the top of the Cliffs of Insanity alive. I'm worried about Charlotte, though. Desmond never was in that bad of physical shape. He was close, but not that far gone. Daniel had better hurry up and find her an anchor. Charlotte hasn't had nearly enough to do yet, and I shall be very disappointed if they just kill off C. S. Lewis without even giving us a compelling reason for her name.

I loved the meeting between John and Richard, though it seems to be leading to a circular direction: Richard thinks John is special because John told him he told him he was special. He was at the hospital for John's birth because John told him to show up. (Maybe he can leave the Island and return at will as long as he's not the current leader?) He wanted John to pick up the compass when he visited him as a five-year-old because the compass was what John gave him to prove he had spoken with him in the future. By that same token, perhaps Widmore got involved with Daniel because he knew Daniel would wind up on the Island. And Daniel wound up on the Island because Widmore got involved with him.

When I saw that the title of this episode was Jughead, I wondered if that was a military term; I knew Jarhead was, and I was hoping this episode might shed some light on Desmond's army experience. If I'd bothered to Wikipedia it beforehand, maybe I would have guessed that the title didn't have anything to do with Desmond, at least not directly. Maybe, as Dad postulates, the H-bomb is responsible for some of the Island's bizarre properties. It's certainly an ominous sight.

I can't keep track of how many redshirts have bitten the dust since the show started, but there can't be many survivors of 815 left. The only ones we know about for sure are Sawyer and John, and I presume that Rose, Bernard and Vincent are all right, though I have no idea where they wound up. Are they headed to the creek too? And did the survivors who wound up with the Others start time traveling, or did they become immune as part of their Otherization? It was kind of nice to see Daniel, Charlotte and Miles together for a good chunk of the episode, and I liked Daniel's rebuffing of Miles for his bad attitude, as well as Miles' sulky reaction to Daniel's lack of concern for him upon their reunion.

I dig Sawyer's initiative in rescuing "the geek," and I thought his exasperation with Daniel for telling Other Girl that they were from the future was a hoot. (Also, I've watched The Lie three times now, and that scowl on Sawyer's face at the beginning of the scene that ends in Neil getting shot with a flaming arrow cracks me up every time. He has every reason to scowl, of course; but man, if looks could kill!) I was surprised that he did it, but sometimes honesty is the best policy! These people all seem so violent, her included, but I guess they have a right to be edgy when people are trying to blow up their island. She reminds me of Bonnie from the Looking Glass. Pretty tough cookie. But she might turn out not to be so bad. If we bump into her again. If she said what her name was, I didn't catch it. Could she be somebody we know? IMDb calls her Ellie; is that short for Eloise? That would explain Daniel's shock of recognition. If Charles Widmore is on the island in 1954, why not Eloise Hawking? Speaking of which, I recognized the woman who was checking records for Desmond, and after consulting IMDb, I see that she was the gate attendant at Sydney Airport - the one Hurley picked up, I think. The names are different, but I can't imagine they would cast the same actor in a completely different role unless they're just trying to mess with our heads. Which... they probably would do. Maybe she's just a red herring...

The more I contemplate this episode, the more interesting I find it. I think it's dropping all sorts of fantastic clues. I'm guessing that we won't see Desmond again for at least an episode or two, but I don't mind; he's worth the wait. It looks like next week will focus on Kate, along with the island folks. It would be really helpful if Daniel could figure out when they're going to jump, and to where. But it seems his top priority right now is trying to save Charlotte's life. The next episode is The Little Prince. Maybe we'll see Kate reading it to Aaron or happen upon the book in some other way. Within the world of the show, perhaps Aaron is the prince, or maybe young Charles Widmore - though I'm not sure what time they've jumped to. Could refer to John, too. Whoever it is, I'm guessing it will be mythologically significant. Meanwhile, Jughead has given me plenty to chew on!

Season Five Is Underway!

So I've been waiting for more than 200 days for the fifth season of LOST to start, and now the long hiatus is finally over. It wasn't as bad as the year before, since I found the season four finale much less depressing than the third, though I'm disappointed in myself for writing so little in the way of fan poetry this time around. I shall try to amend that this year.

Because You Left, The Lie is a bit of a cumbersome title. It doesn't exactly roll right off the tongue, but... Wait a minute. Strike that. I just realized they are two separate titles, not one awkwardly phrased title. That makes so much more sense. The central notion in Because You Left is the idea that Jack has to join Ben in rounding up the others, and that really weird stuff is happening on the island and it's all Jack's fault. The Lie is more focused on Hurley, but there's a whole lot of lying happening all around. There's the Big Lie that's giving Hurley a nervous breakdown and forcing Kate to go on the lam. There's Daniel's dishonesty with Charlotte about what is happening to her and Sun's declaration of forgiveness that seemed more like an accusation. Of course, in all of this, there's the fact that we're following parallel storylines instead of having flashbacks or flashforwards with a particular character. I suspect that convention will be used a lot less from here on in.

I tried very hard to avoid spoilers for eight months, but I was not entirely successful. There are too many theories and tidbits buzzing around, and some land directly in my inbox with little or no warning attached. So I knew we'd be seeing AnaLucia and Ms Hawking again, but I didn't know the context. I enjoyed AnaLucia's scene more than I expected and thought she looked a lot better than she did on the island. She seemed entirely in her element, just as Charlie did in last year's premiere.

Ms Hawking is mysterious and ominous as ever. I wasn't terribly surprised to see her conversing with Ben; back in Flashes Before Your Eyes I figured she had some connection with the Others, given her intimate knowledge of events unfolding on the Island. Where did the meeting with Ben take place? It looked to me like a monastery, but maybe I was just thinking that because I know she has ties to the monk who mentored Desmond. And I don't see how it could have been that monastery; I'd think it would have to be in L.A., given Ben's extremely limited time. Based on her complex board writing and Daniel's half-finished instructions to Desmond, it seems probable that she is Daniel's mother, which would strengthen the bond between Desmond and Daniel.

Starting the season off with Candle/Wickmund/Halliwax was an interesting choice. It seems to confirm that there's a lot of artifice in those orientation videos; on the other hand, it's clear that this guy is in the know. He's not just some guy reading a teleprompter. Is there some significance to his baby, of whom we only got a brief glance? Could it be somebody we know? Miles, perhaps? Strange to see Daniel there; I'm guessing that's a hint of things to come. I wonder if we'll get to see Little Ben again? I'm really hoping for some intel on Annie this season...

Speaking of returning to past moments, I felt gratified to see Frogurt actually integrated into the show in a semi-meaningful way. Granted, when random redshirts suddenly become prominent, it tends to be a kiss of death, but I find it vindicating, since I was a fan of the mobisode in which the thoroughly irritating young man, otherwise known as Neil, tries to convince Hurley that Libby would never go for a guy like him. I was sure that if this little scene was bothering to officially introduce a character who, as far as I can recall, had only been explicitly mentioned in S.O.S., we were probably going to be seeing him again before too long. From the looks of things, he's already out of the picture, which is unfortunate, though not entirely; he really is an obnoxious character. The assault by aggressively accurate, flaming flying arrows was terrifying. Really eye-popping way of picking off more of the survivors we never noticed were there to begin with. Who could orchestrate such a flashy attack?

As for other minor characters, it was great to see Bernard and Rose again, and I was happy to lay eyes on Vincent during a couple of scenes. Hurley's parents were also a welcome sight, and I was pleasantly surprised at Carmen's reaction to Hurley's rambling tale of woe; it sounded crazy to me, and we know he's telling the truth! Hurley is really the only member of the Oceanic Six with especially close ties to anybody he knew prior to the Island. Keeping the truth from his parents for three years has clearly taken its toll on him. That last scene between Ben and Hurley was outstanding and heartbreaking. For a change, Ben is being a pretty straight shooter, but Hurley, with little to go on but Sayid's warning and an awareness of Ben's past deceptions, rejects his earnest invitation. Complications ensue. Big bad Ben may have a better idea of what is going on than any of the castaways do, but knowledge isn't really power for him; what he knows is enough to scare him witless, and we get hints of that throughout the premiere but especially in his scene with Ms Hawking.

Dan, too, knows much more than most folks do, and it's especially handy to have him around now that the rest of the Oceanic survivors are hopping around in time with precious little in terms of an anchor. Dan gets to serve as Doc Brown, and I suspect he's got his work cut out for him trying to figure out exactly when they are. If he'd had a little more time, he could've just asked Desmond... I'd guess their meeting takes place sometime before Kelvin's death; otherwise, why would Desmond have bothered with the Hazmat suit? And more importantly, wouldn't Sawyer and the gang have bumped into themselves on the beach? We could be in for some seriously weird stuff if they happen to jump into a date between September 22, 2004 and early January 2005; it seems like they might be better off relocating to get as far away from themselves as possible.

And just how do these "rules" work? Did Ben visit the future before and find Alex alive and well, or are the rules Widmore broke unrelated to the time traveling? Dan saying that it's impossible to change the future seems like a gross oversimplification; every tiny action causes a change. But the grand scheme of things is another matter. Still, if Desmond operates outside of the rules, you'd think maybe he could have changed Charlie's destiny. The whole point of the Dharma Initiative is to change the factors in the Valenzetti Equation, right? But if the exact moment of the end of the world is set in stone, it seems like a pretty self-defeating exercise. I don't know; this sort of thing always makes my head spin. But it's great stuff. And nice to see Desmond again, of course. Until I started seeing him in commercials about a month ago, I thought we might be done with him for a while. It was a bit of a relief to see him headed to Oxford and not the island, but I just know he's going to wind up going back there at some point, despite his promises to Penny. Very heroic of him, but not so good for her. How much can a gal take?

The beginning of John's island reign has not been going so well. All of his subjects disappear, and then he starts jumping around through time and bumping into people he shouldn't be seeing. I would think that the encounter with Ethan might have ripples. (What did he go and shoot John for anyway? What a jerk...) It happened in about the same place as John's previous leg injury; is there a connection there? Before he got shot, I imagined him climbing up to the top of the cliff as he couldn't before and going inside it to discover Yemi still alive, and rescuing him, and thus causing a massively different chain of events. I thought that act of heroism might have been his first big mistake. But of course it never came to that. I loved his conversation with Richard, and the reappearance of the compass he was shown as a five-year-old. Naturally, I'm quite baffled by Richard's gentle insistence that John has to die in order to save the Island, and I suspect that The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham, on February 25, is going to be one doozy of an episode. I'm also extremely intrigued by the fact that the episode immediately after that is entitled 316. There's no colon after the 3, but if there aren't massive theological implications there, then my money's on a season five finale focusing exclusively on Vincent.

The preview scene I saw last week was Sayid's double whammy, which was the one scene I probably would have least liked to see twice. Throwing the guy over the railing was bad enough, but impalement by silverware? Grotesque. Not that Sayid had a whole lot of choice in the matter. And can you imagine Hurley's state of mind at that point, stuck with a gun in his hand, his face plastered all over the news, and the only person who has any idea of what he should be doing next unconscious? What a disaster! That storyline was pretty grim, but pulling Hurley's parents into it added both heart and levity. (Just that ridiculous sandwich his dad conjured up made me chortle, and I confess I guffawed when Hurley lobbed his Hot Pocket at Ben. No wonder Jimmy Kimmel picked that scene to lampoon later that night!) I also got a laugh out of Ben’s disposal of Jack’s drugs in a scene that otherwise gave me flashbacks to No Country for Old Men, what with the stashing of stuff in motel ductwork. Anyway, nasty withdrawal symptoms aside, this is a good thing for Jack, and so is losing the beard. I’m usually a fan of facial hair, but that just wasn’t working for him.

If it's so important that the exact people who left the island return, where exactly does that place Ji Yeon? Can she return with Sun? And how does Walt figure into all of this? I had it in my head that Sun was blaming Widmore for Jin's death, but I was thinking of her conversation with her father. Of course, she could blame Widmore, but it would seem that she's more interested in him as an ally than an adversary. Unless her intentions are the opposite of what they appear. If she really does want to help Widmore kill Ben, then I suppose Ben is the second person she blames - and in a way, he's more directly responsible for Jin's death than anyone, though she wouldn't really be able to know that, unless “Jeremy Bentham” told her what happened. Her meeting with Kate seemed awfully chilly to me; her lips spoke forgiveness and even thanks, but her body language said, "You broke your promise, and Jin's dead because of you.” I would think Kate’s role in the freighter fiasco would be especially troubling for her because it would dredge up her own guilt; if she had gone after Jin as she’d intended instead of listening to Kate, maybe things would have ended differently. (See why time travel is such a messy subject? There are so many points at which something could have been done that might stop the freighter from blowing up or the Looking Glass flooding or the plane crashing. Dan says it’s impossible to change the future; it seems impossible not to.)

I want to watch the episode again, of course. I think it’s fantastic that we got two hours in one shot, and what an action-packed two hours they were! Sawyer already managed to get in some (shirtless) heroics, though we also saw some pretty snarly behavior from him. I hope John doesn’t take long to clue him in to the fact that Kate and the gang are alive; he could use a load off his mind. Miles seems to be integrating with the group nicely. Dan and Charlotte are such a sweet couple, but she’d better figure out her connection to the Island, and fast, and even more importantly, find herself a constant before her brain explodes like poor George’s did. I’m sure Dan will be working diligently to help her avoid that fate. I still want to know just what the nature of this bond between Dan and Desmond is. I imagine that opportunities for them to have scenes with each other will be limited, but I’m definitely hoping for a few more.

I don’t think I can pinpoint a favorite moment in the first two episodes (which I’m inclined to think of as one), but I certainly enjoyed the ride. I’m guessing some might complain about Neil; he basically was Arzt all over again. But it worked for me. And while the Back to the Future on overdrive aspect is crazily confusing, so far, it seems entirely workable, with loads of creative possibilities. Rumor has it that next week will bring even more Des and Dan. Bring it on!

A Hurley Christmas Card

The snowflakes are swirling in sparkling squalls.
A wonderland starts to unfold.
Snow silences straggling sounds as it falls;
The evening is quiet and cold.

But icy extravagance isn't the sight
That sets me a-tingle with glee.
My mind is on tropical climates tonight,
All thanks to my trusty TV.

The ad promised LOST is about to come back.
I'll soon observe ever-torn Kate
And learn whether shepherding's over for Jack.
Does John have too much on his plate?

As Sun and Sayid strive to make their wounds heal
And Sawyer, no doubt, remains surly,
One character carries the greatest appeal:
The island's own Santa Claus, Hurley.

Now, Hurley has neither a beard nor a sleigh.
He favors green clothing, not red.
But he has a list and an uncanny way
Of knowing where joy should be spread.

He may be worth millions, but Hurley has shown
Most meaningful gestures are free:
The warmth of a hug to a friend who's alone.
A jolly diversion or three.

A calm voice of reason. A steadying hand.
A laugh that alleviates fear.
The patience to listen and then understand.
A soft touch assuring, "I'm here."

His generous spirit allows him to give
To even the meanest of men.
He clings to the precept of "Live and let live",
Forgiving folks time and again.

Although he's no longer an islander now,
I trust I'll continue to find
In him an outstanding example of how
To always be gentle and kind.

O Lord, in this season of waiting and hope,
Remind me I don't need an isle
To focus on helping another to cope.
Let me dispense peace with a smile.

Each day, I'll endeavor to be Your reflection,
A light on a turbulent sea.
By Your Golden Rule, we will make a connection,
The huggable Hurleys and me.

Season Four Review

Season four is LOST's shortest season, but it's also the one that introduces Daniel Faraday, Frank Lapidus, Miles Straume and Charlotte Lewis.  And The Constant has gotta make it to just about everybody's Top 5 list.

What Can Be Found in LOST? Review

An interesting look at LOST from a Christian perspective.

Some Thoughts on the Season Four Finale Before I Retire for the Summer...

I've been avoiding blogging about the LOST finale since I know I have so much to say about it, and since I figure I'll never remember it all at once, and it'll probably take me hours to get it all down. I wrote ten pages about last year's finale, and I liked this year's so much better. By that measure, it seems like it ought to go on for what... 20 pages? But nobody wants to read that.

In some ways, There's No Place Like Home Part II was less ground-breaking than Through the Looking Glass, since much of what we saw was stuff that we already knew would happen, particularly the rescue of the Oceanic Six. But there were so many details we didn't know about - such as the fact that Penny rescued them. I'd like to think that Charlie's death did some little bit of good in helping Penny keep the faith, though it's not like she had to wait too long after that before she talked to Desmond. I guess the point is that Charlie had to die one way or another, and better in one of the most gorgeous, self-sacrificial death scenes ever than with an arrow to the neck. Blech.

Charlie's death bothered me, but not nearly as much as the fact that it achieved the exact opposite of what he had hoped. I just found last year's finale so depressing on so many levels. So much pointless carnage. I never liked Jack's beach massacre to begin with, especially considering the fact that they were all leaving to get rescued anyway. What would have happened if Ryan and the gang had gotten there and found the camp empty? I don't know. Complications for sure. But that doesn't mean I condone Jack throwing the Hippocratic Oath out the window and doing great harm. Of course, Sayid, Jin and Bernard were in on it too, and Sawyer and Hurley participated as well - though I tend to give Hurley a pass since his intention was primarily to rescue rather than to kill, and perhaps Ryan needn't have died if he hadn't insisted on standing right in the van's way and shooting at Hurley. Anyway, ten dead Others on the beach. Ben should have sent them off to the Temple instead of on their kidnapping mission. Nobody seemed to be thinking too clearly. But what a waste.
What a waste, too, to kill Naomi, which accomplished absolutely nothing. And Charlie going down into the hatch resulted not only in his own death but in Bonnie, Greta and Mikhail's as well. And by extension, the presumption is that Keamy and the gang's landing was facilitated by the Island making radio contact with the ship. So I consider The Shape of Things to Come a bookend to Through the Looking Glass, with Charlie's actions, so well-intentioned, resulting in the deaths of every member of Camp Locke, with the exception of Ben, John, Hurley, Sawyer, Aaron and possibly Claire. And Claire is a big fat maybe. What. A. Mess. And the good guys are at least partly to blame for all of it, whether intentionally or not.

There was death in this season's finale too, but it didn't feel like as much of a bloodbath, and the castaways were victims or acting in self-defense. Keamy's guys make the Others look like a bunch of pussycats, so I can't feel too badly about them getting killed. I thought maybe some of redshirt mercenaries might make it, but it never got to that point; it was just complete combat, with Richard and the gang doing most of the dirty work, though Sayid's hand-to-hand battle with Keamy was pretty impressive. I worried for him for a minute, before I remembered he was safe; kinda takes the edge off some of these scenes when the survival of some is so certain! For a moment, I allowed myself to think Keamy was taken care of, but of course there was that explosive device to be concerned about, which would have made a big mess if he's actually died that early on. What was he thinking, anyway, baiting Ben like that? Did he have a death wish? After surviving such a brutal fight, if I were Keamy, I'd think I would just be glad to be alive. Forget Ben! Run away, Keamy, and never return! And honestly, it seems to me Keamy is the only one Ben should be blaming for Alex's death, and he got his vengeance as bloodthirstily as he possibly could. Why drag Widmore into it - and especially Penny? I swear, Ben, if you kill her, I'm giving up on you altogether...

Now, Jin... That's troublesome. The scene with Sun flying away from Jin was horrible, and I was a little upset with him for not having left just a minute or two earlier... though of course he was trying to save everyone on the ship. That scene of him maneuvering his way through the corridors reminded me a lot of Titanic. Bad times... But maybe it's the eternal optimist in me - I'm still not 100% convinced Jin is dead. I think Sun is convinced, but all we actually saw was Jin running and the ship blowing up, right? No kind of actual close-up on him? I want to re-watch the episode and haven't yet, but the ship blew up from the middle, and it seemed he was close enough to the edge he might have been able to jump off the edge and cling to somebody in a lifejacket. (Again, I *think* most of the people on the ship got off and were floating in the water, but with the island gone, where can they go? Seems like their only hope is another ship passing by, and how likely is it that those who were castaways would not identify themselves as crash survivors, thus making it the Oceanic 12 or 18 or whatever?)

I've been worried about where Sun's going ever since The Glass Ballerina, when we saw a much darker side to her than we're used to. Seeing her in the future with her father makes me wonder if ruthless business mogul is her future. I certainly hope not. It also makes me feel sorry for Widmore for the second time this season, even though I've been saying for ages that he's more malevolent than Ben. He looked really haggard in the last episode. Was that before or after Ben threatened Penny? It's interesting that Sun blames him for Jin's death. Because it was his ship? Or she figures rigging the ship with explosives was his idea? There's a long string of people, from Daniel and Juliet to Desmond and Jin himself, who could be considered as having an accidental hand in his death. Widmore's so removed from everything that has happened on the Island this season, again, I'm not sure it makes much sense to go after him from a vengeance point of view.


It's a shame that Michael died - and I am pretty positive he did, since he was at the dead center of things and creepy Christian even showed up to give him his exit papers - but I guess under the circumstances it was sort of a relief. I would have rather seen him be able to go back home and rebuild a life with Walt, but I'm glad that he at least was able to do some good. Assuming some of those people did get off the boat; if not, I don't know that he actually did accomplish much... In Michael's episode, Ben told him not to blow up the ship because there were innocent people on board and he didn't want to kill them if he could avoid it. It was a nice bit of humanity from Ben, but I don't know what his plan was beyond that. Seems like in reality, everybody on the freighter was decent except for the mercenaries. If something could have just been done to keep them from getting to the island - disabling the helicopter seems like it would've been a good start, and within the realm of possibility for tech-savvy Michael - a whole lot of trouble could have been avoided. Anyway, though, I'm glad he managed to redeem himself in some sense, and to do it without killing anybody. I suppose one of the reasons the Oceanic Six didn't contact Walt was that they wouldn't have wanted to deal with questions about Michael. Who wants to break the news to a kid that his dad blew up? And they must have known, especially with Desmond joining them. I don't blame Hurley for his evasion on that topic when Walt came to visit. Incidentally, what's with Christian being the Angel of Death? His presence was especially weird because he and Michael had nothing to do with each other. I can't decide if it was creepy or comforting; it kind of reminded me of the Black Rabbit at the end of Watership Down, which is one of my favorite book endings ever.

Speaking of rabbits, I love that last year's finale was a reference to Lewis Carroll and this year's showed us "time-traveling bunnies," which just happened to be white. The first ones making the magical journey into the future, just like Alice's White Rabbit into Wonderland. Speaking of weird hatch stuff, I loved that John couldn't find the Arthuriums; when Ben said that the episode before, I said, "What makes him think John has any idea what those look like?"


I'm so conflicted about Ben. I'm pretty steamed at him for setting off the dynamite; on the other hand, I can't figure out how anybody on the island could feel safe if Keamy was still alive. Maybe they could keep him locked up in that big room where they kept Locke's dad last season... If that didn't get blown up when Keamy stormed "New Otherton," which I suppose it probably did... Anyway, Ben sure isn't much of a heroic character, and I'm pretty unsettled by what we've seen of his future. But I can't help seeing him as an anti-hero rather than a villain, and I really did feel bad for him this season, especially since The Shape of Things to Come. He's been through quite an ordeal. And after all that, in order to save the Island he has to banish himself...

The sense I'm getting is that Ben never really was supposed to be in charge at all, that Locke is "the chosen one" but since circumstances kept intervening to keep him from getting to the Island, Ben was his somewhat unsuitable replacement. I've been hearing rumors that Ben and John may actually be brothers, which actually seems somewhat plausible and would add another whole layer to the making-John-kill-Anthony-Cooper weirdness, presuming he is the father of both. Or could they both be like Anakin, the result of virgin births? I feel like that's getting a little too out there; I'll stick with Cooper, I think.


Speaking of strange familial connections, I'm really curious about Charlotte's relation to the Island. Didn't she say she was born there? The way I figure it Charlotte is probably in her late 20s, which means that she could conceivably be Ben's daughter. Maybe he got Annie pregnant and she was taken off the Island to deliver the baby and never came back, and that's why he was so adamant against Juliet taking the pregnant women elsewhere. (Though that would mean she was conceived, not born on the Island; I'm assuming women then couldn't give birth on the Island, but maybe they could...) You'd think she would have mentioned Ben to Charlotte, but maybe not. Or maybe Charlotte was born but Annie died in childbirth. Or... I don't know. Charlotte probably has nothing to do with Annie. But I'm so eager for answers on that front I'll take any potential leads that seem to pop up.

I don't know what Daniel and his raft people are going to do. I figure they're in the same boat as the people in the water, and I can't imagine they're just going to kill off everybody who was in the water when the Island disappeared. (More irony; if Daniel hadn't been so proactive about rescuing people from the Island, they would've been in much better shape. Especially Jin. Though it sounds like things go pretty sour on the Island itself...) I would love it if next season, Rose becomes the leader of the beach people, though it will probably be Sawyer, unless John shows up to make them all one big happy family.

I will say that I'm very happy with Sawyer this season. He didn't kill a single person (or even a tree frog or polar bear!). True, he threatened John and he came close to killing Ben, but aside from those isolated incidents, this season has been all about him embracing his better nature, with Hurley as his guide. He really put himself in harm's way throughout the season, and I thought jumping out of the helicopter was a spectacular gesture. (Of course, I was a little surprised to see him in there, partly because he wasn't one of the Oceanic Six and partly because he didn't seem to keen on leaving, but I guess he changed his mind.) For a long time, I've thought of Sawyer as the Han Solo of LOST, and I think he's gone from anti-hero to flat-out hero.


Speaking of heroes, I was so relieved about Desmond too, especially after first being shut up with the dynamite all that time and then almost drowning after the crash. (Jack saving him gave me a flashback to him saving Charlie season one, though Desmond's revival seemed to come a lot more quickly than that one. Thank goodness; how awful if he would've died within minutes of reuniting with Penny... Incidentally, I read an article in which the writer said he thought the whole episode was priming us to think it was Desmond in the casket, but I never really thought so; what reason would Jack have to feel so ambivalent toward him, and Kate so downright hostile?)

I love Jack, but I'm getting really sick of his hard-headedness. I'm glad he finally relented and took John's advice about lying to the world. But after all the things he's seen on the Island - and heck, after repairing Sarah's spine - how can he be so sure of himself all the time? He was wrong about being able to fix Sarah. He was wrong about Bernard being alive. He was wrong about the purpose of entering the numbers. He's been wrong about so many things, yet he always acts as though any view other than the one he has must be unequivocally wrong. Maybe his rather pathetic argument with Hurley after the Island disappeared was his desperate last grasp trying to prove the world worked according to his rules. Probably not though. I think a rather narrow view of things is just a part of who Jack is.

I'd say we're definitely going to be seeing Desmond and Penny again, but I have a feeling they and Frank are going to be relegated to pretty occasional status, which bums me out. Desmond's my favorite post-season one character, and Frank is tied for my favorite season four newbie. Penny never has been around much, but now she finally seems like one of the gang. (By the way, I loved Jack's "See you in another life, brother," though I was hoping for a little man-hug to accompany it; I get the sense, though, that aside from Penny, Desmond's not much of a hugger!) Penny still has a major role to play yet, and presumably Desmond will be fully wrapped up in that, but I don't want to think too much about the possibilities for their storyline, since we left them in such a happy place. I'd like to pretend they don't have to worry about any more unpleasantness after this. Their reunion was absolutely thrilling - though I still think The Constant trumps it. Here, finding each other seemed inevitable if they could manage to survive; in the other, it had been years since the last contact, and Desmond's very life depended on Penny answering. An absolutely perfect scene. I also like that not only did Desmond get the happiest moment of the episode, he also got several great lines, chief among them his "boom" speech.

I should have felt really shattered at seeing Locke in the coffin. He's been one of my favorites since the beginning, despite his rather erratic behavior (and it was nice to see him so concerned about the people on the freighter). I figured he was one of the major possibilities, but I just kept thinking there was no way he would leave that island willingly. So was he forced, or did he leave because things were so desperate he felt he had no choice but to get the Oceanic Six back? And how did he get back? Did he move the Island again? If that were the case, I would think he wouldn't be able to come back - but maybe it doesn't matter since he's dead, or maybe the not-coming-back thing wasn't Ben being punished so much as just the natural consequence of his Island-moving, and if he can find his way back, maybe he will be allowed to return after all. I guess part of the reason I'm not feeling properly mournful is that the only really compelling reason I can see for needing to bring Locke back is that his connection with the Island is so strong, he can not only come back from paralysis and near-death when he's there, he can be revived like Spock in The Search for Spock. It's probably just wishful thinking, but there's so much weird metaphysical stuff happening on that show I'm willing to think it possible. (By the way, I thought Ben's farewell and apology to him were fantastic. What a complicated relationship...)

Speaking of the dead, I loved the extra bit at the press conference - just a couple of minutes, but I found it extremely gratifying. Ever since Kate's episode, one of my biggest questions has been who else, according to their story, survived the crash but then died? I was thinking it was just two extra people but wasn't thinking about the fact that Aaron was born later. I was really hoping that Boone and Charlie would be the two, so I cheered a little when Jack identified them. He also said Libby was one of the ones who died. She wasn't as obvious a choice since their was no sacrificial element to her death, but I tihnk she was a good choice. Anyway, that makes me more hopeful that maybe Liam will pop up in one of these flash-forwards, especially since Damon said in LOST Magazine that we probably haven't seen the last of the DS ring. I also liked the fact that Eko got a little nod via Hurley.


I was glad to see Rose again, though it seems like almost every time she's opened her mouth this season, she's been saying something snarky. We've got Sawyer for that... I was surprised he didn't have to undergo any obstacles to "rescue" Hurley, but it worked out rather nicely. And of course, jumping into the ocean from a helicopter was a very dramatic way to save his friends. Good thing he reached the shore before Ben turned that wheel. Juliet sitting around drinking reminded me a lot of Live Together, Die Alone, as did the sky turning purple. And of course, Desmond's storyline came full circle with Penny. I really think he deserves an Emmy nod for this season, and I'd love to see him nominated, especially since he probably won't be a regular from now on. But I really think this is Michael Emerson's year for the Emmy. He was absolutely haunting in this episode, and really every episode in the second part of the season (except the Jack one that he wasn't involved in). I'm rooting for you, Michael! Speaking of Kate's home life, what was up with that dream? Was it really Claire? The Smoke Monster? Kate's subconscious trying to convince her not to return to the Island? Whatever it was, it was pretty freaky.

At the beginning of the episode, Kate said "I've spent the last three years trying to forget what happened the day we left," so that puts Locke's death in late 2007/early 2008. I was thinking they would probably end the series in 2010, but now I'm not so sure. If they're gonna go back there with John in tow, seems to me they're going to have to do it pretty quickly. I doubt they're going to want to be dragging around a body that's been dead for two years. But maybe once they return, we'll see a couple years into the future yet again? I'm guessing that in the end, whoever is left of the original castaways will probably wind up staying on the Island, especially considering how miserable the Oceanic Six are post-Island. Maybe not, though; it'll be interesting to see!

I'm curious about what they're going to do in the interim; sharp-eyed Nathan caught an ad during the broadcast for Octagon Recruiting, which is related to Dharma and touts a conference in July when all of these opportunities can be explored (curiously, the same date and city as 2008's Comic-Con ;) ) and the ABC website has a massive LOST landscape that has about a hundred clickable objects and some kind of complicated contest that, again, could potentially result in the prize of a free ride to Comic-Con. It's in San Diego; if I were Benjamin, I'd be so there!


I'm not, so I'll have to content myself with sitting around and picking apart the last season and hopefully writing a new string of poems and filks about it. I think I may be coming out of my dry spell. I know I have more to say about the finale. But this covers most of it. Surprisingly enough, this finale left me feeling pretty good about the way things are headed, at least in comparison to last year. It's a pretty nice place to leave everyone for the summer and fall. I will be returning...

Penny Girl (Danny Boy, Traditional)

The writers' strike put a bit of a damper on the fourth season of LOST, mainly in terms of developing the quartet of new characters who came from the freighter. Nonetheless, this season has had some of the most beautiful moments of the series thus far, and perhaps my favorite of them all is the life-saving phone call that occurs at the end of The Constant, a brilliant episode from start to finish. Here's my meager attempt to capture some of its glory. I think of it sort of as Desmond practicing what he's going to say to Penny when he tracks her down in 1996, to the tune of Danny Boy.

Penny Girl

Oh Penny girl, my mind, my mind is flailing.
Again, again I'm tumbling with the tide.
Adrift, alone and starless, I am sailing.
It's you, it's you can heal this great divide.

So bring me back. Pen, sing me to my senses.
With you my anchor, I will not let go,
And I'll atone for all my past offenses.
Oh Penny girl, oh Penny girl, I love you so.

Eight years from now, you'll hear the fateful chiming -
If you have faith. Oh, Penny, please believe!
And when you answer, I will praise the timing,
The perfect present on that Christmas Eve.

Then, through my tears, I'll cast away my sorrow.
Though it may seem that I am lost at sea,
You'll have my pledge to meet you in tomorrow,
My life preserved, Pen, by your constant love for me.

Apollo

One of my favorite moments in this fourth season of LOST occurred at the end of Cabin Fever, when Hurley, waiting with Ben to find out Jacob's marching orders from John, opens up an Apollo candy bar and, after sharing a brief glance with Ben, breaks off the bigger piece and hands it over. No words are exchanged, but it's a moment brimming with humanity and compassion.

Throughout the show, Hurley's "love your enemies" attitude has helped dissolve many conflicts on the island and transform Sawyer from anti-hero to outright hero. I'd like to think this tiny gesture toward Ben, who has been the source of so much turmoil, might have similar good ripples - maybe taking him back, at an especially opportune moment, to the first time he was offered an Apollo bar, by the best (and, by some measures, only) friend he ever had. According to Wikipedia, Plato connected the name "Apollo" with simplicity, redemption and purification. Coincidence? I hope not.

Apollo

It isn't much: a silent glance,
A second chance, a gentle touch.
A careless shrug. The greater half
From one whose laugh is like a hug,
Whose empathy bursts into bloom
Though Ben's presumed the enemy.
An act of grace so undeserved;
Surprise preserved upon Ben's face.
So off-the-cuff, this chocolate clutch.
It isn't much, but it's enough.

LOST Goes From Alice to Dororthy, But This Is Hardly Child's Play...

So we have come once again to the LOST finale. Instead of Alice in Wonderland, it's The Wizard of Oz this time, and our friends are just a couple of heel clicks away from Kansas. There's No Place Like Home. But what happens to the scarecrow, the tin man and the cowardly lion? A whole lot of people aren't getting off the island. In fact, at this point, it seems it would be much better if nobody else got off the island, since the people on the freighter presumably aren't making it back to the mainland, or it would be the Oceanic Nine, at the least. Or are they just taking on different identities like Michael did?

I'm worried about this episode. For one thing, I usually find the rescue scenario rather depressing in these types of stories. Nuts, I know, but whatever. Mostly, though, I'm worried because I think a lot of bad things will happen before the rescue. They seem to want to top themselves in terms of intensity with each finale. Fifteen people died in Through the Looking Glass, plus that mysterious someone in the future. Are we in for another massacre?

Keamy's the only one I really want to lose, and maybe his lackeys. LOST seems to have established a pattern since season two of introducing a new group of characters and killing most of them off by the end of the season. That makes me very worried for Daniel, Frank, Charlotte and Miles. I think it's almost inevitable one of them isn't going to make it through the episode, and I wouldn't be too shocked if it's more than that. Frank is probably the most heroic and likable of the bunch, with Daniel a close second. That puts them in a very vulnerable position.

Jin also gives me reason to worry. He's on the freighter, but he doesn't get rescued. When Sun told her father that two people were responsible for Jin's death, that sounded like a pretty specific reference to me. Sticking to the script, she wouldn't be able to tell him what she really meant, but I suspect something will happen to him on that freighter, and that thought upsets me. (I'm also a little concerned about that trick she pulled on her father; he had it coming, but I don't want to see her turn into a ruthless CEO like him.) Michael and Desmond worry me too, though they could maybe go back with the freighter folks incognito. I suppose Desmond might want to do that, and then confront Charles and let him know that he made it after all and that Penny still loves him. Or just strike out and look for Penny on his own. I loved his Panic Face when he discovered the explosives; more deranged-looking than we've seen him since Live Together, Die Alone. But that stuff is bad news. And Nathan figures it's rigged up to Keamy somehow, so if somebody takes him down on the island, the ship might go down too.

I would love it if Sawyer was done killing people. I really would. Sure, he threatened both Ben and Locke this season, but he didn't follow through. Basically, he went from mercenary to hero, largely because of Hurley. What a good influence. But he seems like one of the most likely candidates to kill off Keamy, which I basically think has to happen, lest everyone on the island get annihilated. Then again, Locke and Sayid can certainly hold their own, and Smokey has much more reason to be irritated with Keamy than with Eko. Anyway, he has a lot of enemies. And somehow I doubt we're ever going to be given a glimpse of his humanity. I guess it's about time the show had an utterly unambiguous villain...

Speaking of which, looking back at last season's finale, if Mikhail had done what he did about ten minutes earlier, it would have saved everyone on the island, at least for the time being. Ironic. Everyone would have been so much better off if Charlie had never gone down into that hatch in the first place, and in trying to save Claire's life, it looks like he got her killed. It also looks like Desmond was lying about seeing Claire get into the chopper, just as a way to get Charlie to agree to sacrifice himself. He probably figured it would happen, but I don't think he actually saw it. How very frustrating...

Anyway, part one of the finale was good, though I didn't like it as much as Cabin Fever. But there was quite a bit packed into there. The rescue, which none of the castaways looked all that happy about, at least while they were on the plane. I suppose they were in shock, as Sun said. The press conference was somewhat revelatory, though we still don't know the deal behind their fabricated story. The reunion was happy at least, especially Hurley, and I thought it was very sweet that when he noticed Sayid didn't have anyone waiting for him, he rushed him over to introduce him to his parents. Poor Kate didn't have anybody; I would've thought Sam Austen would have shown up, but I suppose her being a fugitive complicates things. Still, it seemed like the two of them were really close, and she must've been very hurt that he didn't come. I hate that we got cheated out of a truly joyful reunion between Sayid and Nadia; it was such a beautiful moment, but it's kinda hard to really enjoy it when you know she's going to be murdered in a few months.

They finally cleared the air with Claire being Jack's sister, and poor Jack looked like he was about to throw up. I'm guessing that he doesn't see Claire again before he leaves the island. So whether or not she's dead, he probably thinks she is, and he must feel horrible about it. Besides, it would be a huge shock to realize this girl he got to know so well on the island was actually the sister he never knew he had. A little like Luke and Leia, but he couldn't share his revelation with her. I thought the scene with Hurley's party was really funny - especially his mother's comment about Jesus Christ not being a weapon - but also sad. He's not adjusting well to post-island life. The incident with the car was really spooky; I don't think his dad rigged the numbers that way. It would have been in really poor taste for him to pull something like that, and he seemed almost as surprised by it as Hurley. I think he genuinely wants to make a fresh start with his son, and it's a shame those nefarious numbers had to ruin such a touching moment. Just goes to show, I suppose, that the island isn't through with Hurley yet.

On the island, I love the fact that Sawyer put himself in harm's way for the sake of others, first by joining Jack, then by insisting they rescue Hurley - though it's a shame they couldn't spring Frank first... There are a lot of parallels in Hurley and Sawyer's stories. Most notably, perhaps, in the season two finale, Hurley, upon learning that Michael killed Libby, refrains from vengeance, while Sawyer kills Tom out of revenge in the season three finale. Also in that finale, Hurley rescues Sawyer, so this time, it's up to Sawyer to rescue Hurley, thereby perhaps dispersing all his bad karma once and for all. I'm not too worried about him, since Jack and Kate's future conversation seems to indicate that he is alive when they leave the island. I do feel like he's been slightly ripped off this season, though, without a single centric episode. They could rectify that with the finale, but I don't think they will.

More likely than not, since it's a Part Two, it will follow the same flash-forward pattern as the first part, and we'll be seeing a lot of the Oceanic Six off the island, especially Jack and Hurley. But what I'd really love, now that he's finally decide to show up again, is a Richard flashback-forward. With two hours, I figure they could start in the past - which could mean hundreds of years for all we know - and wind up in the future, which needs to be incorporated somehow if we're going to find out who's in the coffin. This way, we might actually get to see some of Danielle's backstory first-hand even though she was so unceremoniously killed off, and maybe we'd get some of the scoop on Annie too. He knows the island better than just about anybody, so we'd get all kinds of juicy tidbits. And he leaves the island, or at least he did; I'm not sure the destruction of the submarine would necessarily keep him from taking off. So he could witness the death of whoever's in the coffin. Or cause it. Heck, he could be in there himself, but since at this point we've never even seen Jack interact with Richard, that seems a little unlikely.

Still, a possibility. Assuming the deceased is someone we know, I think that leaves a pretty small pool of candidates. It has to be somebody Jack doesn't like very much but still feels very strongly about. Locke would be one option, but I just can't see him leaving the island unless somebody gives him the bind and gag treatment his father got. Could be Michael, but surely at least his mother would go to the funeral, unless she didn't realize who he was because of the name Kevin Johnson. But I'm not really feeling that scenario too much. Maybe one of the freighter people, too, but I'm not sure he's associated with them enough to have that strong of feelings about them.

At this point, I'm practically positive it's Ben in that coffin, which makes me sad if it's true, but then that would be true no matter who it is. We know Ben is off the island in the future, and there's probably not anybody who would bother coming to his funeral. Sayid, maybe, but he might find that a risky move considering the circumstances of their association with each other. Whoever killed Ben might come after him too. Unless he killed Ben, in which case he certainly wouldn't be likely to show up to mourn him. Hurley, who always spoke at the island funerals and actually got to know Ben a little bit, might have attended too, but at this point he's probably still in the mental institution and pretty out of touch with the outside world. He probably wouldn't know, and even if he did, he probably couldn't just check himself out to go to a funeral. Anyway, it certainly would be understandable for Jack not to consider Ben a friend. However, it would also make sense that his death would send him into a spiral of despair, considering that Ben tried so hard to stop him from contacting the freighter, and it turned out he was telling the truth about their intentions, or at least Keamy's. And of course, Kate wouldn't want anything to do with Ben. Presumably the newspaper would have an alias there instead of "Ben Linus," but maybe there's a picture, or maybe Jack knows his pseudonym du jour. Or maybe it's not Ben at all. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

When Ben told John to take a look at the plants at the Orchid Station, I was hoping he was pointing to some really weird vegetation, like Venus Fly Traps or something like that. Alas, nothing but a bunch of trigger-happy guys. What a way to end the episode, with Keamy knocking Ben out. If he can't kill somebody, he's at least going to beat him to a bloody pulp. Yeesh. It's odd how immediately Ben 180-ed from victim back to leader. So much for me thinking John was calling the shots now. As soon as Ben heard, "He wants us to move the island," he took charge, and John was in the dark again. Hurley, too, of course. I got a little chuckle out of his warning about the 15-year-old crackers. It was a derisive comment, but it might have also been a useful cautionary note. As for the mirror signal, the presumption was that he was communicating with Jacob, but could it also have been Richard, and that's why we're suddenly seeing the Others again? Did Ben tell them to come? Why would he do that, though, if the Temple is the only place where they're safe? Does he intend for them to launch an attack on Keamy?

I loved the little bit of Frank that we got in this episode, but more than that, I loved Daniel, who really went into hero mode with his ferrying of survivors. I found it interesting that he didn't put Charlotte on the first boat. I suppose she was there to corral the rest of the castaways, but she didn't look too happy about it. Maybe she was worried about Daniel, but she also seemed hurt that he didn't take her along. If it's so crucial to get off the island, she has good reason to be nervous. For both of them. Of all the freighter folk, I have a feeling Dan is the most vulnerable right now. He could wipe out on his raft. He could get caught up in the time differential vortex. Desmond could die, and his brain could lose his anchor. (Don't, Desmond. Don't you dare!) Of my cream of the crop, Hurley is safe, at least in the present. John is too crucial to the island mythology to die yet, I think. Desmond's on the shakiest ground. I've got my fingers crossed for him.

I hope that tonight's episode will not be as calamitous as last year's. It probably will be. But hopefully there will at least be enough bright spots to keep it from being entirely depressing. I hope Rose and Bernard have a lot to do, or at least a little, and I'm really eager to see just what sort of miracle John is going to bring about. I want something beautiful to sustain me through all that is bound to be unpleasant. Will this be my favorite finale yet? I suspect not. But I'm sure it will be brilliant.