"Meet Kevin Johnson"

Very interesting episode of LOST last night. Unfortunately now we have to wait five more weeks for the season to continue. But enough about that.

STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!

This was the episode a lot of people have been waiting for. We finally got to see what Michael has been doing since he left the island. And apparently, he has been re-enacting scenes from "Groundhog Day." Not being able to live with himself for killing Ana Lucia and Libby, he tried to kill himself several times but to no avail. I'll have to admit, I was very confused about the flashback for quite a while. I was pretty sure it was a flashback to the time before Michael got on the freighter, but I was doubting myself until Michael tried to visit Walt. I really liked seeing familiar faces like Libby and I loved the scenes with Tom. I've missed having Tom around!

So we learned about Michael's motivation for going on the freighter and how he got there. What I really want to know now, is who is telling the truth about the staged wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815. Unfortunately, I have this feeling that we won't know if Charles Widmore staged it or if Ben staged it until sometime in the distant future (i.e. not this season). I don't know what will happen now that Sayid has turned Michael in to the ship captain. But I don't think that this is the end for Michael. I hereby renew my assertion that Michael is the man in the coffin at the end of Season 3. That was one of my two original ideas (Ben being the other), but now I feel that it makes more sense seeing as how Michael was trying to kill himself but "the island wouldn't let him." At the time we saw Michael in his flashback, Tom told him that he still had work to do so he couldn't die. By the time Jack has his long beard in his flash forward, he wants to get back to the island, and perhaps the island doesn't want him to return. Meanwhile Michael living under a different assumed name, successfully kills himself because now the island let him as he is one of the few who knows the islands' coordinates from his time on the freighter.

And of course, the ABC promotional department dropped the ball big time...again. They promised last week that someone would die. Of course they flashed the faces of all our favorite Losties and of course it turned out to be none of them. I'm convinced that the people who do promotions for televesion don't even watch the shows. It appears that Karl is pretty dead when he is shot (?) by a sniper on his way to the Temple. Danielle was also shot but I have a feeling that she is not dead because there is still too much information that they need to reveal about her character, namely her back story. In any event, Karl is not someone who I would call a major character, so his death, although unfortunate, deserved very little hype from people who make the promos for ABC. So who is shooting? My money is on Ben although it will probably turn out to be one of the freighter people. Frank has been gone an awful long time so he probably took the chopper back to the island with some more of the commandos to try to capture Ben or Alex.

So there we will wait until April 24. It seems like a long time right now but it really won't be all that bad seeing as how we have made it thorough the long dark hiatus of last year. All in all, I really like Season 4 but I can see why the producers would not have wanted this to be the final episode of the season if they had been unable to come back from the writers strike. So I am looking forward to this new story arc and how the season will likely culminate in the Oceanic 6 leaving the island. Until then, theorize away!

Good News Everyone!

Fox has announced the release date of the second of four direct-to-DVD Futurama movies. "The Beast with a Billion Backs" will be released on June 24. It will pick up where "Bender's Big Score" left off. Some may recall that I was a little underwhelmed by "Bender's Big Score," but like I said then, "good new Futurama is better than none at all." In other news, a television version of "Bender's Big Score" will premiere on Comedy Central on March 23.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's not green, but it sure is Irish! This is a glass of my third batch of home brew: a nice Irish red ale on this March 17.

"Ji Yeon"

The first half of Season 4 of LOST is now over and we have the answers to two questions that were brought up at the start of this year. We also have learned of another loss in the LOST family. All in all, another great episode that had me faked out not unlike "Through the Looking Glass" from Season 3.

STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!

From advanced knowledge of the title, I don't think anyone could have assumed this was going to be about any other characters but Sun and Jin. From the title and the fact that Sun is pregnant, I had formulated the story in my head over the past week and figured that the title must refer to the name of their unborn child. What I couldn't figure out early on in the episode is how they were both off the island in the flash forward considering that by my count there was only one spot left in the Oceanic 6. Of course, looking back on it, the hints were dropped all along from the fact that Jin was so determined to buy that Panda, to his attitude when someone took his cab and the size of his cell phone. In the closing minutes of the flash forward, it occurred to me that we were seeing a Jin flashback and a Sun flash forward. Moments later, this was confirmed when Hurley visited Sun and Ji Yeon who then went as a group to visit Jin's grave. It's very sad to find out that Jin did not get off the island and by Sun's emotional graveside visit, I think we can assume that he is really dead in the future, not just left on the island. So how is he buried in Korea? Is he one of the two people that survived the crash but died before rescue (i.e. Jack's court testimony in "Eggtown")?

In any event, we now know the identity of the Oceanic 6:

1. Jack
2. Kate
3. Hurley
4. Sayid
5. Aaron
6. Sun

But the other bigger story of this episode was the identity of Ben's spy on the freighter. In the most telegraphed "twist" in the history of LOST (followed only by Jack and Claire being revealed as half-siblings) Micheal was introduced to Desmond and Sayid as Kevin Johnson. His hair is much shorter and his beard is neatly trimmed but it is Michael and now we can spend the next week wondering what his back story is. I know I can't wait to see it!

The last big revelation was the conversation between the freighter captain, Desmond and Sayid. In three or four minutes, the captain exposited so much LOST mythology it made my head spin. Not only did he tell them who he was working for, he also showed them the the black box recovered from the underwater wreckage of Flight 815. He went on to imply that the underwater wreckage was staged by Ben and that is why Charles Widmore is working so hard to catch him. So is he telling the truth? Earlier in the episode, Kevin "Michael" Johnson slipped a note to Desmond and Sayid imploring them not to trust the captain. But Michael is working for Ben. So who can we trust?

Oh yea, and Regina killed herself by jumping off the freighter. We finally got to see Zoe Bell and she died, just like when we finally got to see Minkowski (Fisher Stevens) and he died. Is this just a bit of cult-movie stunt-casting?

I liked the episode but again I am itching for more and can't wait until we "Meet Kevin Johnson" next week!

Pressing Issue

How long did Luke Skywalker's training on Dagobah last?

"The Other Woman"

We had a pretty good episode of LOST tonight. Not great but pretty good. Frankly I don't think that anything could top last week's fantastic episode. Still, this one was pretty good and had quite a few reveals in it.

STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!

We learned a little more about Juliet this week, first and foremost that she is not one of the Oceanic 6 and that the Others had a therapist. It turns out that Juliet started having an affair with the therapists husband, hence the title of the episode. Of course the title makes a second reference to Juliet in that she is the Other woman among the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815.

All those theories about astral projection are in play again as we saw the Others' therapist appear to Juliet to tell her she must kill Daniel and Charlotte. I would have chalked it up to only being in Juliet's mind, but Jack saw her too and he even talked to her. Then she simply vanished. This is not that dissimilar to Walt's mysterious appearances during Season 2. And let's not forget the whispers. They came back this week too. So what's the deal?

Daniel and Charlotte contained some deadly chemicals and possibly saved everyone on the island from being gassed. But in saving everyone on the island, they also made it possible for exploitation by outsiders. Which leads us to Ben and Locke. Ben made a deal with Locke for his freedom. Ben finally came through on a promise of answers. So Charles Widmore is as bad as we've all thought he was. The freighter is not Penny's; it belongs to her father. He wants to find the island and he probably used Desmond and the real Henry Gale to help him in his quest. Remember, the real Henry Gale died sometime after his hot air balloon crashed on the island. If you recall, his balloon bore the Widmore Labs name. Was that way to get a homing device onto the island? Perhaps that's a bit far fetched but who knows in this crazy world of LOST.

So what else does Ben agree to tell Locke? The identity of his man on the freighter. And the man is.....But we are going to find out next week according to the preview. My guess is still Michael. It makes the most sense seeing as how we know he will be reintroduced this season and I'm frankly surprised it's taken this long.

So we got a lot more story progression, but as I said, last week's episode was a real tough act to follow. This was a good one but it will be hard to outshine "The Constant."