"Lighthouse"

Five hours in and I still have no idea where this season is heading, but I am, for the most part enjoying the ride! After a great episode last week, I was expecting a bit of a let down, but was very pleased with this installment.

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As discussed last week, this episode's flash-sideways followed in the pattern of Season 1 by focusing on Jack. I'm mixed on my enjoyment of Jack-centric episodes but on a whole I liked this one. So parallel Jack has a son. I might be reaching here but since Sarah's name was never mentioned I was expecting David's mother to be revealed as someone else we know like Ana Lucia...perhaps in a future episode. I was completely unsurprised to learn that parallel Jack is a crappy absentee father. Also, his mom is a worse drunk than his dad...apparently she didn't even look for Christian's will before calling Jack because it sure didn't seem hard to find. At least Jack made an effort with David by watching his audition for the music academy. I found the scene between the two of them after the audition to be very touching. But what are we to make of Dogen and his son being in LA at the same audition. Does this mean that Dogen hasn't been on the Island since the days of the Black Rock and that he might have only arrived sometime after the Incident? Very strange.

Back on the Island, I thought Hurley was in top form; funny as hell and taking charge thanks to help from Jacob. But what's the deal with Jacob? Is he just f-ing with Hurley or what? Making him take the sad, pathetic Jack across the Island for a task that he knew Jack wouldn't be able to do correctly? Seriously? Island Jack needs an attitude adjustment and fast! He is a tremendous contradiction. He never listened to Locke in the past and went out of his way to do the opposite. Fine. But then after he left the Island he want back on faith (not just because he was "broken and hoped to be fixed" but also because Locke told him Christian wanted to say hello) and was zapped to 1977! He set off a hydrogen bomb and didn't die but rather zapped forward to 2007! He saw Sayid die and then come back to life! But(!) he thinks it's strange that his childhood home could be seen from the mirror in the Lighthouse?!? We all want answers but he needs some damn anger management! When he broke those mirrors my stomach just sunk (and I don't think it was from the flu that I'm getting over). He is so pathetic and selfish it hurts. Jacob told Hurley that Jack has an important job to do and as long as it involves messing something up, Jacob's picked the right guy!

I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to find out whose name is at 108 degrees on the Lighthouse bearing. My first guess would be Kate since she was conspicuously absent from the list we saw in the cave last week as was the number in question. But this number is supposed to correspond to someone who needs to come to the Island. In that case, I'm thinking it belongs to someone like Desmond or Charles Widmore. No sense in worrying about it now though; we'll find out when they want us to find out. I loved the callbacks to Season 1 as Jack and Hurley were trekking to the Lighthouse. Not only did they find Shannon's long lost asthma inhaler but they actually mentioned Adam & Eve! I loved Hurley's time-travel theory about the identities of the skeletons. I only hope this scene serves as a reminder to LOST fans who may have forgotten (is that even possible?!?) about the skeletons in the caves and is not the last we hear about Adam & Eve. I suspect it is the former.

As we all thought, Claire has been living in the woods like Rousseau for the past three years and trying to find Aaron who she is sure was kidnapped by the Others. Apparently her father and her "friend" told her that's who took him. So again, I can't help but think that whatever is now taking the form of Locke was taking the form of Christian Shepard for a long time, perhaps even since the beginning. What's perplexing is that Claire seems to forget that she left Aaron when Christian appeared to her towards the end of Season 4. What gives? She was also apparently "tested" by the Others like Sayid. When Jin told her that Kate took Aaron, I knew that would be trouble for Kate and was confirmed by the end of the episode. So what's Jin's game here? Does he think he'll stay alive by bringing Claire to the Temple? And does Claire see someone else when we see Locke? It seems like she'd call him Locke instead of her "friend." It'll be interesting to learn more about that. So I guess Locke and Claire heading for the Temple are what Jacob warned Hurley about. That doesn't bode well for Sayid and Miles not to mention all the Others hanging out there.

I'm looking forward to more as long as they maintain this pace of story-telling and don't tell us any more about what Kate might do!

"The Substitute"

I seriously don't remember episodes of LOST going by so fast! I know it's only the fourth hour of the season, but I'm really starting to suspect that there may be more questions left ambiguous than will be definitively answered. I really have to start tempering my expectations each week but by the time Tuesday rolls around I am admittedly annoyingly excited.

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As I somewhat suspected, we got a Locke-centric episode and although it wasn't all I'd hoped for, I did enjoy it. As far as flash-sideways Locke goes, he seemed very at peace last time we saw him in "LA X" but he certainly seemed like the old dejected Locke from pre-815 crash times in this episode. It was nice to see that in this world, he at least has Helen to help him cope and believe in miracles (loved that scene by the way--she was a woman of faith and he was a sad man of science, so to speak). It sucked to see Locke get fired by "douchey" Randy but great to see Hugo give him a break and hook him up with a new job. And while it was interesting to see Rose in charge at the temp agency, doesn't it seem like she would have known that the owner of her company was on the same flight back from Sydney as she was? Maybe not but I thought it a little bit of a plot hole. Regardless, I did appreciate that in this world, she still has terminal cancer and she and Locke connected on their feelings of helplessness just as they did in the other world. And of course, just for us fans, we got that short scene with substitute teacher Locke meeting history teacher Ben in the teacher's lounge. Is John Locke a nexus for LOST crosses or what?!?

On the Island though things look to be pretty final for John Locke. It was very sweet of Sun to insist on burying Locke's body and actually quite sad to see Ben and Lapidus lower it into a grave. So many Losties are buried on that hill...I never thought John Locke would end up as one of them. For once in his life, Ben finally told the truth when he said that John was a believer and a better man than he would ever be. I was surprised that he admitted that he was sorry for murdering Locke, but I suppose he is after the conversation he had with Fake Locke in "LA X." In true LOST fashion though, just when it couldn't get any sadder, Lapidus chimed in with a great bit of comic relief about this most unusual of funerals.

Meanwhile, Fake Locke seemed to be on a quest to recruit as many Losties as possible to his cause. Of course before making contact with Sawyer, he tried to make a convincing argument to Richard Alpert. I really hope we get to see Richard's backstory because I'm very curious how Jacob recruited him and how much he really knows. Aside from his unexplained eternal youth, I like how he has become less mystical in his knowledge with each season. There is a very strong possibility that he's only on Jacob's side because that's who got to him first.

I'm a little worried about Sawyer to say the least. Juliet's death has really taken any will to live from him and I fear that he may not make it through the end of the series. I was never really worried about him dying while climbing down the side of the cliff, but I have my doubts that he will manage to survive until the end of the show. By the end of this episode, he seemed to have reverted back to his old "every man for himself" ways. Then again, he is a con-man and may be working a long one on Fake Locke. Also of note is that according to Ilana, the Man in Black is stuck in Locke's form for some undisclosed reason. Of course, as we have seen, that does not preclude him from turning back into smoke in order to wreak havoc.

But now to perhaps the juiciest information revealed in this episode: Jacob/Man in Black's Cave of Names. Fake Locke promised to show Sawyer the reason that he was on the Island and it all has to do with his meeting with Jacob earlier in his life. Apparently, those on "the list" are candidates to take over for Jacob.

So who are the candidates?

23-Shephard
8-Reyes
16-Jarrah
42-Kwon (Sun or Jin?)
4-Locke
15-Ford

As Fake Locke went through the list and we saw flashes of the Losties interactions with Jacob, I noticed one glaring omission: Kate was not listed despite that fact that she was touched by Jacob that we first saw in near the beginning of "The Incident" last season. Why isn't she a candidate? Perhaps the answer lies in the shadow of the statue. Last season when Ilana, Bram et al kidnapped Lapidus, they had a conversation about him being a candidate. I'm guessing that only men can be candidates leading me to also believe that the Kwon referred to on the list is probably Jin. But what of the significance of the numbers assigned to each name on the list? You got me! I never expected the numbers to come back into play other than as Easter Eggs and for all I know, that could very well be all there is to their appearance here!

Fake Locke told Sawyer that he has three choices: 1) do nothing, see what happens and possibly be "crossed off" the list, 2) become the new Jacob and protect the Island or 3) get the hell off the Island and never look back. For now it seems that Sawyer is ready to choose option three but as I mentioned before, it might just be a log-con and he'll eventually double-cross Fake Locke. One other oddity of note. Early in the episode, Fake Locke sees a little boy dressed in shabby Others-esque clothing. Later both he and Sawyer see the boy. When Fake Locke actually talks to the boy, he is told that he "knows the rules" and he "can't kill him" to which Fake Locke angrily replied "Don't tell me what I can't do!" Great response but it doesn't bode well for Fake Locke seeing as how will things worked out for the real Locke! So is the boy a form of Jacob? He would seem to be, but why is he a boy? Or is he someone else? My guess is that he is Jacob and all this means that Fake Locke is not allowed to kill anyone but if they were to killed by someone else, that's a "win" for the dark side.

Why can't these episodes be longer?!? I don't know what will happen next but based on some things Jorge Garcia said on his Geronimo Jack's Beard podcast, it would appear that the centric episodes this season are, so far, following the order of episodes from the first season. Both "pilot" episode sets dealt with multiple character's flashbacks/sideways, followed by Kate-centric second episodes and Locke-centric third. So are we to expect that next week's episode will be Jack-centric? I like the symmetry however it can't be sustained due to a fewer number of episodes this season not to mention the absence of several characters that are no longer alive. Whatever the plan, I'm interested in finding out!

"What Kate Does"

Another episode of LOST is in the books and I'm not really sure what to say, but I'll try...

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Are we done with Kate-centric episodes now? Hopefully so because they have been pretty much useless since sometime in Season 2. She hasn't developed as a character or changed in any discernible way over the course of the show and I don't need to see any more episodes focusing on her this much.

That all being said, there were a few interesting yet still murky things we learned. Apparently Sayid is still Sayid but there's "a darkness in him" that will turn him when it "reaches his heart." And how do the Others know this? Because it happened to Claire! I've been one who has thought that Claire died back in Season 4 and although it may not have occurred in the explosion of her house in Dharmaville, something happened that caused her to need the healing of the Temple fountain. I wonder if the water was cloudy/dark when she was healed as well. And What about Ben? He's a pretty dark-hearted guy. Could the same thing have happened to him? Temple leader Dogan referred to what Sayid had as the sickness. I think we can safely assume that this is the same sickness that Danielle was obsessed with. So if the other members of her team got the sickness by going under the temple where the Smoke Monster resided, why did the fountain affect Claire and Sayid in the same way?

I feel really bad for Sawyer. He's had a crappy life and has made made some bad choices but was pretty happy in 1977 Dharmaville. It sucks that he blames himself for Juliet's death. I can't see a way he'd end up with Kate nor should he. I only hope he can find some happiness when all is said and done. Apparently, he's very important as the Others said he was. They also said Jin may be "one of them." I wonder what that means. Saviors of the Island I hope!

I realize this post is a bit disjointed and short but not only was the episode a mainly uneventful Kate story, but I'm also still sidetracked by the Saints' Super Bowl victory (Who Dat!) and my delayed return to Memphis late this afternoon. I hope that next weeks' episode is a little more enlightening or at least engaging. Now we begin the wait (thank goodness ABC decided not to preempt LOST for the stupid Winter Olympics!).

Superbowl Champs!

It was truly unbelievable to see history made last night and I feel very fortunate to have been able to experience it in Louisiana. Even though we weren't in New Orleans, Lafayette was certainly rocking last night even during the shaky first quarter play by the Saints. It was great to hear the fireworks going off and car horns honking around the city last night during the post-game celebration. This win was great for the city of New Orleans, the state of Louisiana and even the country as a whole. America has a new favorite team and they're called the New Orleans Saints! Who Dat!

Who Dat!

Today is the day that the long suffering New Orleans Saints will finally have a chance to play for the glory of a Superbowl win. After dismal years of mediocrity and fans wearing bags on their heads during games, the nation has been overcome with the spirit of Who Dat! Roxi and I were happy to watch the Saints get to this point with their win over the Vikings in the NFC Championship two weeks ago but we wished we could have been in Louisiana to celebrate with our friends and family rather than in Tennessee Titans country in Memphis. Roxi's second grandmother in four months unfortunately passed away on Thursday so we traveled to Lafayette on Friday for the funeral yesterday. As sad as funerals are, the gathering of family and friends is comforting and can even be jovial. So in this sad time, we are fortunate to be with the Benoit family to watch the game this evening and hope to see the Saints win their first ever Superbowl! Who Dat? Who Dat? Who Dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?

"LA X"

It's hard to believe that it's finally here...the final season of LOST. When the announcement was made a few years ago, it seemed like a long way off but here we are.

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I caved a few days ago and watched the first four minutes of "LA X" that ABC posted on their website. I was glad to see that it was indeed the first four minutes of the show and not some random four minutes in the episode. My initial reaction was "Wow! Jack's plan actually worked and there's Rose!" However, the flying camera shot down into the ocean to reveal the four-toed statue's foot underwater was a definite WTF moment. Then I was thoroughly confused when we came back from the commercial to see Kate in a tree and Dharma jumpsuited Jack and Sawyer around the 2007 remnants of the Swan station. So I guess we will eschew traditional flashbacks/flashforwards and will instead be seeing the parallel LOST-iverse of what might have been...I'm not sure how I feel about that yet but there were some very poignant scenes in the parallel reality especially the meeting of Jack and Locke at the baggage claim office. I liked that very much.

Back on the Island it was very excruciating having to watch Sawyer hold out hope that Juliet had survived only to have her die in his arms. I did thoroughly enjoy and appreciate his kick to Jack's head when he realized that they were still on the Island and not back in LA. And then there's Fake Locke and Ben. If there was any doubt that this new Locke is the Man In Black, that is certainly all gone. We got confirmation that the ash really does contain the Man In Black/Smoke Monster but it's not fool proof!

And what about Desmond on Oceanic 815!?! My first thought was that it was because we've been told that the rules don't apply to Desmond. However, producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have gone on record saying that in this parallel reality, there are things that are different from what we'd expect because of the ripple effect caused by history changing from 1977 onward, chief among them the Island being submerged but also minor differences like Desmond being on Oceanic 815 while Shannon is absent.

Once we got past all that there was the little matter of Sayid being on the verge of death. Thanks to Jacob's advice to Hurley, there was a way to theoretically save Sayid but it would involve the Temple. Last time someone got saved at the Temple, he was "changed." I'm pretty sure that whatever happened to Sayid to save him changed him into something very different. One idea that Roxi relayed to me was that he could be the new corporeal form of Jacob. That would certainly be an interesting turn of events. By the way, I'm glad we finally got to see what was inside the guitar case even if I don't completely understand it.

And what about the angry Asian guy and his band of Others. I'm thinking that these were the sailors/pirates/conscripts from the Black Rock kept eternally young like our friend Richard Alpert. It was nice seeing stewardess Cindy and the two kids from Oceanic 815 with the Others at the Temple. Of course most of us loyal LOST followers have suspected as much since the end of Season 3. In any event, the Others are very scared of the Man In Black and rightly so I'd say. This final battle of dark versus light will most certainly being hanging over our heads all season long.

What about Ben? What a bitter little man. He was all ready to send Richard Alpert into Jacob's chamber just because he felt betrayed by Fake Locke. I wonder if we've seen the last of a good and virtuous Locke on the Island. I hope not but I'm not sure how we'll get to see him in any other form at this point. Either way, Terry O'Quinn is a great actor and he can sure play a bad dude as was evidenced tonight. I'll be okay with Fake Locke from here on out but I was really hoping that there might be some way that the good old Locke from Season 1 might get some closure and redemption before all was said and done.

Well that's about what I have for now...I know I forgot plenty but feel free to chime in with corrections, omissions and/or your thoughts. Let the theorizing begin!