It's Dr. Linus to you buddy!

Ben teaching European history. Talking about Napoleon and the loss of power, "He might as well be dead."

Oh look it's Arzt... the last time we saw him he was blown to smithereens by unstable dynamite at the Black Rock.

The "Substitute" Locke tells Ben, "Maybe you should be the 'principal'." If the man in charge doesn't want to listen, maybe it's time for a change. [ a theme of overthrowing the crown ]

Ilana says, "Jacob was the closest thing I ever had to a father."

Wow, in the LAlternaverse Ben's dad is still alive. They did go to the island but left. (but it's now underwater, so what gives?) Ben's dad,"Who knows what you would've become." So creepy.

Alex is a student at Ben's school.

There are six candidates left: Hurley, Jack, Sun, Jin, Richard and Miles?

Richard shows up to meet Jack and Hurley and takes them to the Black Rock.

Miles tells Ben, "Jacob was hoping he was wrong about you."
Ilana makes Ben dig his own grave, while chained to a tree.

Lapidus tells Ben he was supposed to be the captain of 815, "Imagine how different my life would be." Ben, "The island still got you in the end."

Hurley asks Richard about why he seemingly never ages. Richard, "No I am not a cyborg." [ hilarious ] Richard says Jacob, "gave me a gift." and tells Hurley, "whatever he told you, don't believe it." then tells both Hurley and Jack he is "going to die."

Arzt to Ben, "Linus, you're a real killer."

At the Black Rock Richard says that he had been there before, but it's the first time he's been back. [ remember MiBLocke said to him, "it's good to see you out of those chains." ]
Richard explains that the reason he wants to die is because he dedicated his life to serving Jacob, believing he would be rewarded and now that Jacob is dead, his life has no purpose.
But he can't kill himself so he needs Jack to light the fuse on the dynamite.

Jack lights the fuse, putting Hurley is a tizzy, but sits down and says, "now we can talk." [ superpimp move Jack ]
As the fuse burns, Richard gets worried for Jack's safety but Jack tells him what happened at the lighthouse saying, "I know Jacob wanted me to see what was in those mirrors and that he's been following me my whole life, so I don't think I meant to die sitting here with you." Sure enough the fuse burns out before it reaches the stick. Jack, "You want to burn another one?"

MiBLocke shows up and frees Ben from the chains, telling him he's taking his troops to the Hydra island and leaving. Plus he wants Ben to be the new guardian of the island.

Ben and Ilana have a heart to heart about why Ben killed Jacob. Ben says, "No one will have him." Ilana says she will, meaning she will have him on her team to battle MiBLocke's others.

Ben chooses Alex's success over his own.

Miles digs up the diamonds buried with Paolo and the girl.

Sure enough Jack, Hurley and Richard stroll down the beach to join Sun, Ilana, Lapidus, Miles and Ben.

So there is team Jacob.

And team MiB is Locke, Kate, Sawyer, Claire and Sayid.

Somewhere out there is Jin.

And approaching from the water in a submarine is Charles Widmore, who if you believe what he told Locke in Tunisia, would be on team MiB.

So the only ones missing are Desmond, Faraday, Charlotte, Ana Lucia and Mr. Ecko and possibly Juliet.

There is a theme of role reversal for sure both on the island and in the LAlternaverse. And the way Richard was talking about Jacob, it was as if he were a religious man who had dedicated his life to God only to find out that God doesn't exist.

Sayid Doesn't Fuck Around

As we inch closer to Revelations, more and more is being revealed about the true nature of our Losties.

Tonight in the LAlternaverse we find that Sayid gave up on his one true love Nadia and let his brother marry her! Whaaa? This is truly a mysterious universe. Sayid and Nadia obviously still love each other, but Sayid said he didn't want her to be subjected to his violent past.

So Sayid's brother is in some hot water with a loan shark and asks Sayid to use his "techniques" to get him out of paying the continuous vig on the loan. Sayid says he has changed and no longer is a bad ass (remember the dishwasher throw down?!)

Meanwhile back on the Island Sayid wants answers from Dogen and gets in a Jedi duel in the Temple where Dogen tells him to leave and never come back. But before Sayid can even get to the door, Claire shows up at the behest of Smokey/MiBLocke.

Dogen has Claire thrown in the Silence of the Lambs well and tells Sayid, "Not so fast I need you to take this dagger and plunge it into the heart of the first guy you see outside the Temple, don't even let him say hello because he is evil in carnate."

So Sayid wanders out into the jungle and who does he see, but his old friend John Locke. And without hesitating Sayid does exactly what Dogen told him to, driving that knife right into Locke's heart. But to his surprise, it apparently is merely a flesh wound. MiBLocke tells Sayid that he will spare him and give Nadia back to him in exchange for delivering a message back to the Templeothers.

And that message is, "Jacob is dead. You have until sundown to get out and be free. After that it's go time!"

Meanwhile back in the LAlternaverse after Sayid's brother gets a beat down from his loan shark, Sayid gets a call from said shark and lo and behold it's Keamy (are old mercenary from the freighter). Keamy tries to tell Sayid that his brother still owes on the debt, but Sayid doesn't take that news to well and guns down Keamy and his whole team before the eggs get cold. On his way out he hears a rumble in the freezer and uh-oh! it's Jin who doesn't speak English and in this universe he and Sayid are complete strangers.

Back on the Island Kate finds Claire in the well singing some old favorites and tells her that Aaron is okay back in LA. Claire didn't like that news at all, giving Kate the ultimate stink eye.

Sayid goes to see Dogen one more time and informs him he didn't like being set up, so he drowns him in the spring of bubbling tea. Lennon comes by and screams at Sayid that he made a big mistake by killing the only person who could keep out Smokey. Sayid says, "I know" and slits Lennon's throat.

So Smokey says, "Knock, knock here I come" and runs roughshot over the entire village, but not before Ilana, Lapidus, Sun and Miles hide behind Hurley's mystery door. And Kate jumps in the well with Claire for safe keeping.

After all the smoke has cleared out walks Sayid, Claire and a bewildered Kate who has no idea why a dead Locke has a shit eating grin on his face and seems to be comanding an army of the dead. Conspicuously missing from this army is Sawyer. We last saw him in the Cave of Names where he told MiBLocke "Hell yes" when asked if he wanted to get off the island and go home. So, is he guarding a different post? Did he already leave the island? Is he going to infilitrate the 316ers in the Battle for Middle Earth? I guess we'll see.

They all turn and head out of the Temple seeming to say to everyone else left on the island, "It's On Like Donkey Kong!"

Island vs. the LAlternaverse

Sorry I've been out of commission for a while, but as the old addage goes, "If you write a column and no one reads it, does it actually exist?"

Is this all in my head?

Have I been claimed by another?

Anyway, so now we have Locke recruiting Sawyer for his unholy army, but will Sawyer actually fight his friends? Somehow I doubt it.

Kate is on a mission to find Claire, but Claire wants to kill her for raising Aaron. She seems to have no problem killing now (see axe to the chest of the other other).

Hurley takes Jack to the Lighthouse on orders from the ghost of Jacob and after having appeared on the Cave of Fate, The numbers appeared again on the Wheel of Destiny, showing a window to the outside world, proving to Jack that Jacob has been tracking them all their whole lives. Jackie no likie so he goes loco on the magical mirrors. Which apparently was Jacob's plan all along.

Someone is coming to the Island... could it be the return of our favorite Brotha Desmond? Or perhaps Widmore back for the ultimate throwdown with Ben?

Back in La la land, Jack has a tweenage piano prodigy with a mystery woman (Juliet perhaps). Kate is on the run again. Claire is about to give birth to Aaron. Locke is happily married to Helen and Hugo is happy with his millions.

There is something oddly unsettling about the L(Alternaverse). I believe these universes will "cross paths" in a most remarkable way, perhaps with the Losties all going back to the Island somehow as a result of the impending War coming on the Island. (But in the LAlternaverse the island is underwater, so I'm still working on this theory).

Claire the Other Other

Here are some of my favorite or memorable elements of Episode II...
and [ comments or theories of special note ]


Lines:

sawyer - he's an iraqi torturer whose killed kids... he definitely deserves another go round.
[ sayid is paying for his sins and being redeemed... it looked like baptism in the water and he was in a christ pose when they brought him out of the water ]

guy crossing - i'm walking here
[ nice shout out to midnight cowboy ]

sawyer leaving - don't come after me.

sayid: no i am not a zombie
[ but he is un-dead, in a matter of speaking ]

miles: we'll be in the food court if you need us

kate: I never should've followed you
sawyer: which time

Questions:
what is kate remembering?
[ when she looks into the mirror in LA ]

what is so wrong with sayid, the new others want to kill him?
[ if he was claimed by Jacob, wouldn't they want him alive? so does that mean he is turning into someone else ]

who claimed Claire?
[ ooh ooh, Eloise Hawking! ]

comments:
how pretty is evangeline lilly? I mean come on! those eyes!
same with claire... it's great to see her beautiful blue eyes again.

ooh ethan as the nice obgyn... creepy.

kate remembers aaron

Dogen is the Japanese guy... "I was brought here."

Claire raises aaron in this alta-verse, who was the soothsayer way back when?

moments:
hot iron! being tortured some kind of cosmic pay back?

rousseaus' boulder trap!

Jin in a bear trap.

Claire is an other-other.

The theme of redemption is taking the lead.

The Temple vs. The Foot

We have come to the End of LOST, or at least the beginning of the end.

When we last saw our friends on the Island, Juliet had detonated a Hydrogen bomb (or so we think) in the pit of despair, with hopes of resetting the Losties lives back to when they were on Flight 815 on the way to LA.

So, did it work? And if so, what are the ramifications?

Furthermore, we have the other Losties who are still on the Island in 2007 as part of the Ajira Flight 316, which Sun, Ben and "Locke" were a part of. When we last saw this group, "Locke" and Ben went inside the Foot to see Jacob. Ben killed Jacob and "Locke" tossed him into the fire for good measure. But outside, Ilana and co. opened the case and John Locke's body rolled out. So, if John Locke is dead, who went into the Foot?

And so off we go...

Jack on a plane, presumably the original flight 815, a little turbulence snaps him awake. He has a look on his face like he just woke from a startling dream. He exposes a red mark on his neck. Is this leftover from his "trip" to the Island, or something benign?

We see Rose and eventually Bernard who are seemingly uneffected by the flight. Much different from their behaviour the first time around. We get a look at Boone, but no sister.

[rose to jack: you can let go now]

In the background we can see Locke sitting in his seat.

Uh-oh, what is Desmond Hume doing on the plane? He wasn't on the original flight. Jack asks him if he knows him from somewhere, to which Des says, "I don't know." Ironically though, they had met previously when they were both running stairs in the stadium. Or did they?

[ what was Desmond reading ]

A great transition shot from out the window over and through the clouds, down into the ocean where we find the remnants of Dharmaville and the big Foot! THE ISLAND IS UNDERWATER!!! Wow, what does that mean?
[ so if the island is underwater in 2007 and from the looks of it, it's been underwater for some time, what changed the past ]
[ the musical score during the underwater tracking shot]

We then snap to Kate opening her eyes and discovering herself up in a tree! She has bad ringing in her ears and is disoriented. She makes her way down out of the tree to find both Jack and Sawyer unconscious on the ground. She wakes up Jack and not Sawyer.... significant?

[ jack's first two lines: what happened, where are we ]

They soon realise that they are still on the Island at the Swan sight, which has collapsed in on itself. Presumably Juliet's detonating of the bomb didn't work. But are they still in 1977?

Back on flight 815 we see Kate in cuffs with the federal marshall. Uh-oh, Kate's going to prison.
Betcha forgot about that Kate, when you agreed to let Jack set off the bomb. But we know better than that, Kate doesn't go quietly.

We see Hurley on the plane who says that he is a lottery winner and nothing ever bad happens
to him. Sawyer overhears this and gives him friendly advice not to say that because someone might take advantage of him. There's something behind Sawyer's new attitude here.

Sayid's death bed speech. - wherever i'm going it can't be pleasant and i deserve it.

Back in the foot we seen "Locke" and Ben. We discover, what we basically knew, that "Locke" is basically the Man in Black, who has inhabited the body of John Locke. So from hear forward until he is actually identified by name, we will refer to this person as MiBLocke.

Meanwhile Jacob, despite being stabbed and burned up, appears to Hurley in the forrest telling him he has to save Sayid by taking him to the Temple. When Hurley asks him who he is he says, "I'm Jacob and I died an hour ago." [hurley: wow, dude that sucks ] We know that Hurley can communicate with the Dead, but is Jacob actually dead?...

At the foot Ben emerges with "richard john wants to see you." Richard drags Ben to a lifeless Locke on the beach. [ ben's face = Whaaa? I must be tripping balls ]

Back at the Swan Sawyer proclaims his anger over Jack's failed plan when they hear Juliet moan from the pit and tells Kate, "If she (Juliet) dies I'll kill him!"

Back on 815, the flight crew asks if there is a Dr. on board and of course Jack pipes up. They bring him back to the bathrooms where they tell him someone inside has been in there for a while and they can't get the door open. Sayid appears and heartily kicks the bathroom door in... like I've always said, Sayid doesn't fuck around.

Inside we find an unconscious... Charlie! Jack finally procures the object that was choking him... a wrapped up bag of heroin... no surprise there.

Back at the Swan, they dig out the steel and get to a barely living Juliet, who in her last breath says to Sawyer, "I have to tell you something very important." [ sawyer to jack: you did this (holding dead juliet) ]

Hurley informs the gang that he has to save Sayid by getting him to the Temple.

In the Foot, the Man in Black (as Locke) gives his speech about Jacob being dead, then brings on the Smoke Monster for some serious ass-kicking. Telling Ben, "I'm sorry you had to see me like that." So apparently the person in charge of the Island can manifest into Smokey.
[ best death so far: Bram getting thrown across the room and falling on a piece of wood that comes all the way through... Gnarly! ]

As 815 deplanes in LA, the cops come to take Charlie off to which he tells Jack, "I was supposed to die." Perhaps a reference to the fact that on the Island he died, as was his destiny? So now that he lives and will be taken to jail, has Jack effected the future by interfering with Charlie's destiny?

Jack is told that his father's (Christian) body was not on the plane when it left Sydney. We later find John Locke back is his wheelchair tell a distraught Jack, "They didn't lose your father, they just lost his body." How existential, Mr. Locke.

Sawyer makes Miles tell him what Juliet was going to say and it was, "It worked." So if it worked, where did Juliet go? Will we find her back on the mainland? We'll just have to see.
If it did work, wouldn't that mean she went back to the Island before 815 crashed the first time?

We find Sun and Jin at immigration in LAX and security discovers a bag full of cash, which Jin refuses to discuss. As they are dragging him off to interrogation the other security guard tells Sun that if she speaks English and can help clear up the story about the money she should. Sun says that she does not understand English. Since we know that she does, is she faking to get away from Jin or has something happened and she never learned English?

Upon bringing Sayid's body to the Temple, the Losties find a new tribe of Others, led by a mysterious Asian dude (it sounds like he's speaking Japanese.(We will refer to this gentleman as Akira). We see a brief flash of the woman who was the flight attendant on 815, tell the Others that, "They're okay, they were on the first plane with me." So we are to gather that a) this time period is after 2004 and b) there was a second plane crash, presumably carrying these new Others?

[ this whole sequence in the Temple is very 70s early 80s Sci-Fi... like Logan's Run, Planet of the Apes etc. also kinda like The Prisoner. Loved the score through this whole scene ]

When Akira threatens the Losties, Hurley tells him that Jacob sent him and gave him the guitar case to bring. Upon opening the case, we discover an oversized wooden Ankh, much like the one in the hand of Jacob's statue. [it looks like a giant game piece on ] Akira looks it over carefully then breaks it open to reveal a scroll. After confirming the Losties names he backs off, but has Sayid put in the water pit ( a giant vat of Coke ) where they drown him to the horror of Jack, Hurley and Kate. After dragging Sayid out of the water, they declare him dead. [ the water did not heal Akira's hand cut ]
[ so Jack has now caused the death of both juliet and sayid... that doesn't sound like the Jack we know ]

Back at LAX Kate asks the marshall to let her go to the bathroom. After some hesitation he lets her. While in the stall she tries to get out of the cuffs to make her escape. The marshall gets restless and keeps on her to get out. She kicks the door open and smashes his face against the sink! Go Kate! After a run-in with Sawyer in the elevator, who "assists" her in getting the jump on the cops, she is forced to get in a taxi line. After seeing the Marshall, she jumps in the first one and pulls out her gun, "Drive!" Already in the cab.... Claire!

Back in the Foot the MiBLocke tells Ben that the difference between him and Locke is that Locke wanted to stay on the Island and he wants to go home.

At the Temple, Akira tells Jack "Sayid is beyond saving" [ a reference to Sayid's feelings that he was so evil for all the tortures and murders that he would go to hell ] attempts to revive Sayid.

In our last visit to the Foot, Ben realizes that MiBLocke used him to kill Jacob because their "rules" prohibited him from Killing Jacob himself. Which ladies and gentleman is our loophole. The MiBL plotted all those years and crafted a whole plan to get Ben to kill Jacob so he could take over control of the island. [ so the question is who are these two guys in the first place? are they god and satan? religion vs. free thought? ] in a preview for next week's show we see MiBLocke say "Why are you on this Island?" two forces have been battling over the control of the Island forever, they continue to inhabit the bodies of other people to keep control. perhaps they represent the good and bad sides of our conscience and they are battling for control of our brain (the island)... good thoughts vs. evil thoughts. Hmmm

MiBLocke tells Ben that Locke was the only one who realised how pitiful the life he left behind was. Locke wanted to stay on the Island but the MiB wants to go "home." So, where is home?

In LA X Jack tells John Locke, "Nothing is irreversible." Another theme for this final season. Can we change?

[ hurley to dead Sayid: If you ever want to talk, I'm around. ]


When almost all is lost, Sayid wakes up and says, "What happened?" It seems as if this is Jacob having taken over the body of Sayid. And will thus continue his battle against the MiBLocke.

And so, what have we got now? Most of the original 815ers back in LA, with all kinds of different life trajectories. Will Sawyer turn out to be a good guy or revert to his con man ways? Now that Kate is on the run with Claire in tow, where will they go and what of Aaron who has yet to be born? Hurley is no longer obsessed with the negative numbers, but no doubt they will re-appear soon. And Locke, still in a wheelchair, but with a new outlook on life, will he accomplish something big? LA is now forever different for these Losties. Or will they start to remember? Is the Island experience a collective dream?

Back on the Island Jacob has taken over the body of Sayid and the Man in Black has taken over the body of Locke. Ben is still a wild card. And there is a whole new troupe of Others living around the Temple.

Lots of answers, but many new questions.... gotta love it!

Finally I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout out once again to Michael Giacchino, who continues to impress with his musical score.