6.10 - The Package

So after an awesome episode last week we are back to our traditional flash sideways and island timelines. This episode revolves around Sun and Jin. Last we saw from Sun and Jin in the island timeline, Jin had a bum leg and was with MIB and his gang. Sun was with Ilana and Jack back at the beach waiting for orders from Richard. Off island, Jin was tied up in a meat locker and we don't know where Sun is.

Flash Sideways

We are back at LAX and Jin is coming out with the customs guy. He gets his watch back but customs is keeping the $25,000. Jin has to fill out paperwork to get it back. I guarantee that money gets "misplaced" by the customs agent. Jin missed his meeting at the restaurant. He doesn't know what the money was for, just that Sun's father gave it to him just before he left and Jin does not ask questions.

As they check in at the hotel under Paik, Jin is a little upset that the guy doesn't realize he isn't married to Sun. He wants his own room. This answers the speculation from LAX as to whether or not they are married. After they check in Jin shows up at Sun's room and says he is going to the restaurant to deliver the watch. She invites him inside and says no one will be at the restaurant. Plus they work for Sun's father so tough luck if they don't like it. What does Sun care, she's only in LA to go shopping. Maybe Jin can yell at her for having her top button undone. Jin was worried people were watching. Sun starts to unbutton her top and Jin doesn't want her to stop. Bow-chicka-bow-wow. It looks like my last week's prediction about the title of this episode might not be so off base after all. They bang and then drink champaign.

In the morning Sun says she wants to run away and use the money that she has stored in a secret bank account. Jin says that he loves Sun, and then she is about to tell him something important. Of course before she can there is a knock on the door and it is our friend Martin Keamy. He really is an awesome bad guy. He wants the $25,000 that Sun's dad sent. Omar arrives and they look around for Jin. He's hiding in the bathroom and doesn't seem to resist at all when they look for him. No one can speak Korean so they need Mikhail to translate.

SIDE NOTE: On her way to answering the door, Sun stopped to look in the mirror and fix her hair but seemed to have a confused look on her face as she walked away. This was similar to Jack and the appendix scar in the mirror. Sawyer also punched a mirror in his flash sideways. Did Kate use a mirror at all? Maybe at the autoshop when she was changing. I'm not sure about any other mirror connections, but combined with Jacob's mirrors in The Lighthouse, there could be some meaning here.

Mikhail makes a reappearance to serve as translator. I think this is just part of the plan to bring back every former cast member for a cameo. He has two working eyes (for now) in the flash sideways. Sun will go take the $25,000 out of her secret account and give it to Keamy. Jin doesn't want Keamy to tell Mr. Paik about Jin and Sun. No worries dude, Keamy won't cock block you. Keamy is going to keep Jin as collateral and bring him to the restaurant. Mikhail will go with Sun.

When Sun tried to take the money out, the account has been closed by Sun's dad. But it was secret! Apparently not so secret to Sun's father. Uh-oh. At the restaurant Jin is put in the freezer. Omar knocks his head on the side of the freezer and gives him a cut. Keamy cleans up his cut and then ties him up with duct tape. He then tells Jin that he is there to kill him. The $25,000 was payment from Mr. Paik to kill Jin. He broke the cardinal rule and got freaky with the boss's daughter. Omar is sent off to get the Arab and then Keamy goes to make eggs. We hear the interaction with Sayid and everyone get shot. Jin starts making a racket and Sayid opens the door. He won't free Jin, but he won't kill him either so he gives him a box cutter and wishes him luck.

Sun and Mikhail arrive back at the restaurant and I guess Keamy isn't dead yet. Mikhail wants to know what happened but his last words are warning Mikhail to turn around. Too late. Jin has a gun to the back of his head. Mikhail thinks that if Jin had killed all those people he would have killed him already. He tries to attack Jin and they do some karate while shooting off a bunch of rounds. Then Jin puts a bullet through Mikhail's eye. Now he needs his eyepatch. Sun caught a stray bullet in the uterus and lets Jin know that she is preggers. He's going to save her. I bet Dr. Jack actually saves her.

On Island

We open up with night vision. Someone is watching Locke's merry band of losties. MIB sits down with Jin while he bandages himself. They talk about Jacob's cave and how Kwon was on the cave. MIB can't leave the island without all of the people whose names are on the wall. So he needs Jin and Sun. Locke will go and get Sun, don't worry.

MIB is leaving for the night and tells Sayid to watch over the camp. Sayid can't feel anything. No emotion, no pain, nothing. That's probably better for what is coming. Jin starts to hobble out of camp and Sawyer wants to know where he is going. He is looking for Sun. Why is Sawyer listening to that thing? Then they all get shot by tazers or some other kind of dart. Everyone gets shot and knocked out. Zoe (who I guess the rest of the blogosphere is calling Tina Fey/Liz Lemon) finds Jin and lets Widmore's men know that they have their person.

MIB comes back to the camp and finds everyone still passed out. He goes right to Sayid and wakes him up. He wants to know who did this and where is Jin. Sayid doesn't know, being passed out and all. MIB gives Sayid a gun and tells him to wrap it in plastic and asks if he is a good swimmer. Enter Claire who wants to make it all about her. Is her name on the wall? No it's not. Well it was, but it was crossed out. Cry me a river Claire. MIB says he still needs her and there is plenty of room on the plane. He is clearly lying to her. Is Kate on the wall? No. But she was on the lighthouse wheel and not crossed out, so this could turn out to be big. Claire whines a little more about Aaron not recognizing her and Kate being her mother. Maybe you shouldn't have abandoned your son in the jungle. MIB needs Kate to get some others off the island, but after that, whatever happens, happens. Amen.

As MIB and Sayid are leaving Sawyer asks why he doesn't float over there and Locke says that if that was possible he wouldn't be on the island anymore. They are going to get Jin back. MIB arrives at the beach and walks towards the pylons. Everyone jumps out and draws guns. Then Widmore comes to talk to MIB. Widmore says he only knows rumors and ghost stories about MIB. MIB wants Jin back. Widmore says he has no idea what he's talking about. "A wise man once said that war is coming to the island. I think it just got here." That wise man was of course Widmore in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham."

Back at the beach Ben is getting anxious and wants to know what everyone is waiting for. He was digging his own grave two days ago but all of a sudden he is bold enough to question Ilana? Seriously Ben, give it a rest. They are waiting for Richard. Sun throws a hissy fit and runs off to her dead garden. Jack follows her and is now a full on believer. He is stoked to be a candidate and doesn't understand why Sun doesn't share the same feelings. She tells him to buzz off.

MIB shows up and says he found Jin and will take Sun to him. He reaches out his hand and says he would never make Sun do anything she didn't want to. Sun turns and runs away. Then she runs smack into a tree. If that's how she is running, I really hope nobody lets her behind the wheel of a car.

Ben stumbled upon Sun and she forgets how to speak English. She can understand it but can't speak it. I'm thinking that this head injury has melded the two worlds, on island and flash sideways, a bit. I'll be interested to hear about the connection. Maybe next week. Jack takes a look at her head wound and diagnoses it. Ilana is skeptical that Ben didn't have anything to do with it. Why won't she believe him? Because he is speaking. Zing!

Hurley comes back with Richard who tells them to pack up because they are leaving. They are heading to Hydra island to stop MIB from leaving. Sun has a minor freak out and screams at Richard in Korean. He listens to her but doesn't know what she is saying and she runs off in a fit.

Jin wakes up in Room 23 where Karl was treated to a Clockwork Orange treatment a few seasons ago. Zoe/Tina/Liz comes in and ends up stopping Jin from leaving. Don't taze me bro. She shows him grid maps from the Dharma Initiative that were signed by Jin-Soo Kwon which was Jin from the 70's. He wants to speak with Widmore. Good, Widmore wants to talk to him.

Widmore is pretty upset that Zoe and her team already got Jin. They should have waited a few days. Well she's only a geophysicist. He wants Zoe to bring the package to the infirmary. Widmore shows Jin a digital camera that he found from the wreckage with pics of Ji Yeon. Widmore tells him that he has a daughter as well. And if they don't stop the MIB from leaving the island it will all be for naught. If MIB gets off the island everything will cease to be and he will never see his wife and daughter. But how will Widmore prevent this? Jin needs to see the package. It's not a what, it's a who.

Sun is off by herself by the fire and Jack comes to talk to her. He gives her a pad of paper to write her thoughts. She doesn't trust Locke, but she trusts Jack. Jack promises that he will make sure that they find Jin and get off the island together.

Back in Smokey's camp Sawyer hopes that it will all be over soon and that Widmore killed Locke. Locke comes back into camp and Sawyer wants to know where Jin is. Widmore says he didn't have him. But MIB doesn't believe him. Where is Sayid? They have a secret on the sub in the locked door and MIB doesn't like secrets.

We see Sayid surface from the water near the sub. Zoe and her pal are bringing a guy out from the sub, but Zoe gave him too many drugs. The man is Desmond. He falls near the dock and looks at Sayid. He looks like he might recognize him but he's so drugged out I don't know.

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So finally Desmond is back. I know we were going to see him again, but I was getting anxious. Damon Lindelof says that after next week the conversation will change. I take it this means that we will be getting some big answers next week. We know that Desmond is a game changer. Flashes Before Your Eyes and The Constant were awesome Desmond centric episodes. The Constant is still the highest rated episode among fans. I'm expecting big things next week.

Next up: "Happily Every After"

Next week. Desmond centric. 'Nuff said.

6.09 - Ab Aeterno

So I will continue my recent practice of posting about the most recent episode on the night that the new episode airs. I know, I know, I need to be better about it. I spent about 2 hours last Tuesday night downloading "The D.E.N.N.I.S. System" episode, downloading a program to allow me to capture the audio, then edit the audio into the 10 second clip, and then find a way to post the audio on the website. I didn't have much energy left to put anything of substance on the site.

On to "Ab Aeterno." Over at DarkUFO they let you vote after each episode 1-5 on how much you liked it. This episode has now been voted on the most of any other episode and ranks 2nd all time in rating behind only "The Constant." So now you know what we're dealing with. Personally, I loved this episode. It was just a very different feel and I thought it did an amazing job of story telling. I liked that we weren't constantly interrupted with flashes. Just the little bit in the beginning and the end on island and then the rest was Richard's history. I thought Nestor Carbonell put up one of the all time great Lost performances. This rivaled any of the best Michael Emerson performances. He was just a completely different character. The scared, devastated Ricardo is nothing like the Richard that we have known up until now. His wife is sick so he rides several hours in the rain to find a doctor. When the doctor refuses to give him the medicine Ricardo ends up knocking him over accidentally killing the doctor. He brings the medicine back to his wife but it is too late. He is to be hung for his crime. Instead because he knows some English and has strong hands he is sold to Magnus Hanso as a slave. On the trip over there is a violent storm and the ship gets carried by a huge wave to the island, but not before knocking over the giant statue. One of the other slaves mentions that the island is guarded by the devil.

Richard survives the shipwreck but with limited water and food one of the officers begins killing the slaves. Just as he is about to kill Richard the smoke monster arrives and kills everyone. He sizes up Ricahrd but leaves before doing anything. We see a series of hours pass as Richard tries to free himself by clawing at a nail. When he is attacked by a boar he loses the nail and in the process loses hope. Then Isabella his dead wife arrives. Isabella tells Richard that they are both dead and that they are in hell. Then the smoke monster arrives and Richard tells Isabella to run. She goes up the stairs and Richard can only hear her screams.

The Man in Black shows up and gives Richard some water. He confirms that they are in Hell and that the Devil took his wife. He offers to help Richard because he wants to get out of Hell as well but only if Richard does what he asks of him. Richard readily agrees. After freeing him the Man in Black says that "It is good to see you out of those chains." This is how Richard knew that Locke was the Man in Black back at the statue. The Man in Black gives Richard the same dagger that Dogan gave to Sayid and says that he must go to the statue and kill the devil there but he must not let him talk because he can be very persuasive.

Richard arrives at the statue and gets his ass kicked by Jacob. Jacob is apparently also a ninja. Awesome.    Richard wants to know where his wife is. She is dead so why is he asking Jacob? Because he talked to the Man in Black. Jacob then baptizes Richard and all is good. He explains to Richard that the island is like a bottle of wine. The wine represents what Richard calls "hell" but it is also known as evil or malevolence. If it got out of the bottle it would spread. The island serves as a cork to the bottle. The Man in Black thinks that everyone can be corrupted because it is in their nature to be bad. Jacob keeps bringing people to the island to prove him wrong. So far it looks like the Man in Black is winning this argument because everyone who has come before is dead. I guess that's just progress. Jacob doesn't want to intervene because if he tells people what to do that really defeats the purpose. But the Man in Black has no problem stepping in. So Jacob hires Richard to be his go between. Richard wants his wife back but Jacob says he can't do that (although apparently he said that he could do that for Dogan...). He wants to be absolved of his sins but Jacob can't do that either. Then Richard wants to live forever so that he doesn't go to Hell. That Jacob can do. Richard goes back to the Man in Black and gives him a white stone. Its an inside joke. The MIB says that the offer will stand for as long as they are on the island. Richard buries his wife's cross by the Tree of Souls.

Jacob and MIB have another meeting a la The Incident. Jacob can't believe that the MIB tried to have him killed. MIB doesn't want Jacob to gloat. MIB just wants to leave the island but Jacob won't let him. And if he is killed someone will take his place. MIB will kill him or her too. It looks like Jacob is the rainmaker here and MIB is just living in his world. Jacob gives MIB the bottle of wine to pass the time. He says that he'll be seeing him soon. MIB responds "sooner than you think." Not really sure what this is supposed to mean.

Back on the island in present time we start out with Ilana. Jacob says that he needs her to protect 6 people. She's been training her whole like for this. Her face is messed up. Then it isn't. But what should she do when she takes them to the Temple? Ask Richardus, he will know. But Richard is going out of his mind on the island and he doesn't believe Jacob anymore. He runs off into the Jungle. Hurley is talking to a ghost in Spanish who is not Jacob. Richard goes back to the Tree of Souls and digs up the cross. He wants to know if the offer still stands from the MIB. Hurley shows up instead and Richard starts yelling at him. Hurley was talking to Isabella though. Hurley interprets ghost talk for Richard but then apparently Richard can hear her or Hurley doesn't think its important to keep translating. Oh yeah, she has one more thing for Richard. He has to stop the Man in Black from leaving the island or else everyone is going to hell. We pan out to see Flocke watching from a distance.

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Overall it was an awesome episode. We got lots of answers as well as a great episode start to finish. I have a feeling we are going back to the flashes tonight with "The Package," which I think is about Jin's privates. Or maybe it's not.

We're half way there

We just got through episode 9 of the 18 episode season. There's been a bit of scuttlebutt around the old internets about how some folks are upset that the writers haven't been answering our questions, even this late in the game.

With that in mind, I dug into my archives and pulled out my grand list of questions for the final season. Let's see how we're doing so far.

Smoke monster (Random thoughts: Why did it kill the pilot? Was it trying to kill Lapidus? Why didn't it kill Locke in season 1-and why did he see it as a white light? Where was it trying to take him-The Temple? Why did it kill Eko? Kate and Juliet also saw a white flash in Season 3, as an aside. It probably works for Jacob's enemy, but does Jacob have a smoke monster?)-Partially answered-The monster IS Jacob's enemy.

Adam and Eve - Not answered, WILL be answered

Whispers (Conversations by the Others? Jacob?)-ANSWERED-The others

Childbirth/Kids-Why can no kids be born on the Island? Why are children so important? - Not answered

Richard Alpert-Why doesn't he age? Where did he come from (Black Rock, probably)? COMPLETELY ANSWERED-Episode 6.09

Ben/Widmore-What did Widmore do to get kicked off the Island? Is he aligned with Jacob's enemy? Why can't Ben kill Jacob? What "war" is coming? What happened to Ben in the Temple? What is the temple? No, Partially answered, No, No, Partially answered, Answered

Random Island issues-Why can the Island move? Who built the Wheel? How did the US Army/the Dharma Initiative find the place? How can the Island resurrect dead bodies or make people see things from their lives? - No, No, ANSWERED (Jacob brought them), Partially Answered

Jacob-Who is he? Why does he fight with his enemy? - Partially answered

"The incident"-Did it change anything? - Partially Answered-THIS WILL DEFINITELY BE ADDRESSED.

It is pretty incredible that despite claims of others to the contrary, we've been given a TON of information. It is also incredible how I've been asking the wrong kind of questions-but we didn't have enough information to ask the right questions. The most important question of them all- "Why are you on this Island?"...a question whose answer we now know.

Furthermore, this just reinforces a theory I've been kicking around for a while, that Lost is a giant metaphor for Lost.

In season 2, as we know, the majority of the season centered around the pushing of the magical button. What happens when we stop pushing the button? We don't know. We have to have faith. Because when we lose that faith and stop losing that button, stop watching the show, a nuclear bomb goes off.

Or something. I don't know. This metaphor is falling apart pretty quickly.

Did I miss any big questions?

Welcome to HELL

6.08 - Recon

Ok so I know this is way late but I figured I would post something quick about last week before we got to tonight's episode. As such we won't do the full recap. I will just throw out some of the big plot points from last week.

Dear Lost. Sawyer is a con man. I get it. "Confidence Man", "The Long Con", "Recon."

Alternate Time Line


Sawyer is in bed with an attractive vixen apparently pulling his classic con from "Confidence Man" and "The Long Con." Like Cassidy, this broad doesn't bite. She pulls a gun on Sawyer and says that she is married to a con man so he would have to think she's a fool to fall for that. He says he does think she's a fool because its all a set up and the cops are outside just waiting for his go. She should just take the case with a tracking device to her hubby. She doesn't believe him and wants to shoot him. He mutters "LaFleur" and the cops come busting in. Miles throws Sayer his badge and it is revealed that Miles is his partner in the police force.

Sawyer, or James Ford now I guess, is calling people named Anthony Cooper. So it appears there is still a connection. Miles questions him about his trip but Sawyer fumbles. Miles reminds him that he has a blind date with one of his dad's coworkers from the museum. So Dr. Change now works in a museum. I wonder why he left the island.

Sawyer goes on the blind date and it turns out to be Charlotte. They hit it off real well and pretty soon they're back at Sawyer's and the sexing begins. Charlotte goes to get a tshirt and finds a folder with all the news clippings on Sawyer's parent's death. Turns out that Anthony Cooper still conned his parents and his dad still killed his mom and himself. He didn't become a criminal this time though. Perhaps because Jacob wasn't there to encourage him to continue his letter? Sawyer comes back and and freaks out on Charlotte and demands she leave. She's still naked.

Later at the station we see Charlie's brother Liam there to bail him out but he can't get any info. Miles confronts Sawyer about his vacation. He knows Sawyer went to Sydney on Oceanic 815. Miles breaks up with Sawyer.

Sawyer feels bad about Charlotte and tried to make it up to her with a flower and a six pack. Understandably she is not swayed. He leaves the flower and takes the six pack.

The next day Sawyer tells Miles about his parents. He wants to find Anthony Cooper and kill him. But Miles would have talked him out of it. Then they get rear ended by a car. Sawyer chases the suspect down and its Kate. He recognizes her.

Original Timeline

Everyone wants to know what happened at the Temple and Locke says the black smoke killed everyone. Technically the truth. Sawyer wants to get off the rock immediately. Locke is annoyed and brings him into the woods. Locke reveals to Sawyer that he is the smoke monster and Sawyer seems to already know this. Locke wants Sawyer to take an outrigger to the Hydra Island to do some recon because they are going to get on the airplane and fly it off the island. What if Sawyer gets in trouble? He's the best liar Smokey's ever seen.

Kate finally gets what's coming to her. Claire tries to kill her and Sayid just stares at her like a zombie. Locke comes in and plays the dad breaking up squabbling children. Locke defends Kate and says she took Aaron because she did what she had to do. He bitch slaps Claire and says she's being inappropriate.

Sawyer gets to Hydra and finds the plane and sees a pile of bodies. Some broad is running in the woods and Sawyer tackles her. I don't trust her. She asks all kinds of questions and Sawyer runs with it. As they are getting in the boat to head back Sawyer pulls a gun on her and says she's good but not that good. She whistles and a bunch of dudes with guns come out. Sawyer says take me to your leader.

Locke apologizes to Kate because he said he would take care of everybody with him and that includes Kate. Locke told Claire the Others took her baby because she needed something to live for. She needed someone to hate. Kate wants to know where Sawyer is and Locke takes her to the beach.

They have a discussion about crazy mothers. Locke is pretty upset by this. He had a crazy mother a long time ago and he is still working through his problems. Things would have been better if they were only different. Why is he telling Kate this? Because now Aaron has a crazy mother too. Claire finds Kate and says she's sorry. She gives Kate a hug. It seems like she means it.

Sawyer is taken towards the sub. They are putting up the sonar fence which will keep Smokey out. He gets on the sub and sees a locked door. Not sure what's inside. I hope its Desmond. Sawyer meets with Widmore and says he knows him as the man who sent the freighter to kill everyone. Widmore says something like "There is so much about this that you don't know." Apparently not curious in the least, Sawyer asks no follow up. Slate was very critical of this fact and I have to agree. Nobody on this show seems the least bit curious. Whenever we get some mysterious question like "you don't know the half of it," there is never a follow up. That is answer enough. I get why for storytelling purposes they don't do it, but I mean come on! You are on the most mysterious island in history and everyone seems to have no questions about it. Sawyer will bring Locke to Widmore as long as Widmore leaves Sawyer's friends alone and gets them off the island.

Sawyer goes back and tells Locke all about the plan because a deal's a deal. That night he tells Kate that he plans on letting Locke and Widmore fight it out and while they're distracted him and Kate are going to steal the sub and get off the island.

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Ok so that's your quick recap. I don't have too many thoughts right now because whatever I write will probably change after tonight. I am really excited for Ab Aeterno tonight. We will finally learn more about Richard and his back story. I suspect that we will see Jacob and the Man in Black in the forms we first met them in The Incident. Hopefully we get a better understanding of the island after tonight. Enjoy!

Mmm....Cake

So I know I'm late on posting a recap of "Recon" so here is this to hold you over. I am toying with tweaking the format a little bit this week. I'll post soon, I promise.