GOAT

We have enough information, right now, to know where (generally) this season is going.

Things we've learned from this season:

There are two realities.

One is very happy, the other our heroes are on the Island.

The Island reality may be the result of Jacob's interference.

The two realities have a very vague sort of relationship to each other.

Jacob has been observing our heroes for quite some time.

The Man in Black is recruiting some of our heroes for his battle against Jacob.

FROM ALL OF THIS, WHAT CAN WE DETERMINE?

FIRST, THE UNIVERSES

First and foremost, I reject the idea that the universes are split by the detonation of the H-Bomb, as we're lead to believe. Instead, I believe that it is the murder of Jacob that splits the realities. Jacob and his rival, I believe, are timeless, so when you kill him, it changes EVERYTHING THAT HAS COME BEFORE. This removes Jacob from the reality, and as a result it removes the impact he's had on everyone's lives. This ultimately leads to a world where our heroes aren't pulled to the Island-instead, they're allowed to live their lives and be happy. However, what is the cost of that happiness? The Island has sunk to the bottom of the ocean. As Watch With Kristin has enforced, however, the Island HAS to exist, for some reason we can't yet realize. The MIB has created a reality where our heroes are blissfully unaware of the Island. At some point, the survivors will realize this, and have to make a choice: Leave this perfect world and save the Island, or continue to live happily ever after and be without The Island-whatever that entails.

The question, however, is how do they come to this realization? How do the universes connect?

We know that when our heroes see each other, they're reminded of something, but can't quite place it. Where have we seen this before?

Between "The Constant" and "Flashes Before Your Eyes", we're introduced to Desmond's powers. Desmond, simply put, has the power to see alternate realities. Alternate realities in which Charlie dies. Why Charlie? Good question, but that's not important right now.

Desmond has been missing this season, outside of a mysterious appearance on the plane-However, as we know, the Island is not yet done with him. The rules, as we've heard, do not apply to Mr. Hume. He's going to prove crucial to this season in the second half as the one who can remember everything that has happened in both timelines. He will be the one who approaches the survivors to remind them of what has come before-he will act as their constant. He is going to be crucial to the series' endgame. I expect his appearance to coincide with that of Faraday (still scheduled to appear this season), who will explain to all of us why this makes sense.

SECOND, THE SERIES' ENDGAME

As we all can be aware, the series is moving toward a final act where the forces of Good (Jacob) do battle with the forces of Evil (MIB). This battle, I suspect, will begin to take place on both planes, yet ultimately it will conclude on the Island. As an initial roster, we appear to have:

Team Jacob: Hurley, Richard

Team MIB: Claire, Sawyer

The rest of our main characters (Ben, Jack, Kate, Miles, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Ilana, Lapidus) have yet to declare allegiance. But we can probably assume that Sayid (infection) is headed towards MIB. Ilana appears to have an allegiance to Jacob. Ben-MIB.

The most important soul, however, will be that of Jack. The series has always been about Jack's rise and fall, in both his "normal" life and life on the Island. Here now, however, is going to be his redemptive final act. He will realize his ultimate destiny as Jacob's chosen one. He will be the one in the alternate dimension to realize WE HAVE TO GO BACK. And he will be the one to bring the realities together, save the Island, and become the new Jacob.

Of course, if they decide to go full Jesus allegory, bring John Locke back from the dead, and have him be the savior, then all bets are off.

"Sail on, ye stately ships!" - 6.05 Lighthouse

The fifth hour of season 6 is in the books. I liked it better than "What Kate Does" but worse than "LA X" and "The Substitute." It is still suffering from the fact that we have no idea what the flashes are. Once we find out, I have a feeling that some of these episodes will get a lot better on a subsequent viewing. As of right now? I don't care that Jack has a kid. I don't want to deal with anymore daddy issues on this show. I got very little out of the flashes except that Jack doesn't want to turn into his father. Jack and David decide that they will have a good relationship after all. I suppose we can just dive in with a recap.

Jack's Flashes

First off, I have been rewatching season 1, and so far, the character centric episodes have mirrored the first season. The Pilot and LA X were mashes of a bunch of characters, Tabula Rasa and What Kate Does were both Kate episodes, Walkabout and The Substitute were Locke, White Rabbit and Lighthouse were Jack. Next episode is Sunrise and it should be a Jin and Sun episode as was House of the Rising Sun. The real question will be what happens when we get to the 7th hour. In Season 1, The Moth was a Charlie-centric episode. Its possible we could see some Charlie in a flash, but I suspect we will get one of our on island characters in the flashes.

Onto Jack. He isn't driving a car I would expect a hot shot spinal surgeon to drive but maybe I don't have good taste in cars. He notices his appendectomy scar while changing shirts and doesn't seem to recognize this. First thought is obviously, "oh he got his appendix removed on the island and just can't remember it yet." Nope. He got it out when he was 7 or 8 and collapsed at school. Christian wanted to do the procedure but they wouldn't let him. Jack can't really remember this. So he's been walking around with a scar for 30 years and is just now realizing it? Jack's mom is freaking out about finding Christian's will and Jack says he'll be over. But then he realizes he's late and rushes off. He shows up at a school to pick up David, his son.

Jack and David don't appear to get along too well, but Jack set up cable on a sweet HD tv so that David could watch the Red Sox. What a spoiled brat. I'm almost 27 and don't have an HD tv in my room to watch the Red Sox. And I get NESN, which shows every Red Sox game. Jack clearly had to drop a pretty penny to get the MLB Extra Innings package so that his son could get the Red Sox in Los Angeles. A little more appreciation would be expected. Jack tried to talk to him about Alice in Wonderland and David gives him attitude about just getting through their visit. I would have slapped him, but Jack is a stronger man than me. Jack's mother is nagging him so he heads over to find the will.

They share some conversation about Jack's father and how upset David was and how Jack and David don't communicate, blah blah blah. Jack's mom offers him a drink and he declines. She says "good for you." And then she finds the will in a fairly obviously looking location. Did Christian ever mention Claire Littleton?

Jack comes home to find David gone so he pulls a Mikey from "Swingers" and calls him about 100 times in the matter of 5 minutes. He rushes over to David's mothers place (who we haven't seen up to this point. Is it Sarah? Is it someone else we know? Is it a stranger?) and goes into his room. He finds sheet music all around and listens to David's messages to find out he has an audition with some conservatory. Jack rushes over to get to the audition. A sign reads "Welcome all Candidates." How fitting for Jack. He watches David dominate and then runs into Dogen who says something like "it's hard to watch them and not be able to help." Jack doesn't even know how long David has been playing.

David tells Jack that he didn't tell him because Jack was always so intense about it (Jack? Intense? Really?) and didn't want to disappoint him. Jack gets all nostalgic and says that his father always said he didn't have what it takes and he doesn't want David to feel that way. Jack will always love David.

Island Action

Jack and Dogen make small talk about how they like being honest with each other. Hurley and Miles are playing tic-tac-toe and Hurley wants to go grab them some food. He heads into the Temple and asks a creeper hanging by the pool where the cafeteria is. Jacob tells him that it's down the hall. Then he tells Hurley that he needs his help and it's important so he should write it down.

Jack and Sayid talk and Jack treats him like a leper. Jack says that whatever happened to Sayid happened to someone else.

Hurley is searching ancient symbols in a hallway in the Temple. Dogen comes and tells him he needs to go back outside. Jacob shows up and Hurley tells Dogen that he is a candidate and can do what he wants. Dogen gets mad and says that Hurley is lucky that he has to protect him otherwise he would cut his head off (thank you Lostpedia). Jacob tells Hurley that he needs to bring Jack and Hurley is doubtful they can get Jack.

Hurley goes outside and tells Jack to follow him on a mission. Jack obviously says no. Hurley says that Jacob told him that Jack "has what it takes." This is clearly in reference to Christian always telling Jack that he doesn't have what it takes (see: "White Rabbit). Jack decides to come along. They sneak out into the jungle and stumble across Kate. Kate is going to find Claire and she doesn't care if Jack says that something happened to her. Jack invites Kate to come and Hurley says Kate isn't invited. But Jack decides that he makes the rules and invited Kate. Thankfully Kate doesn't come. Our heroes stumble across Shannon's inhaler which is about the only thing left from the caves. Except Adam and Eve. Hurley says what we're all thinking, that Adam and Eve are characters we already know gone back in time. But they don't pay this off yet. Jack talks about finding the caves while looking for his father and then smashing the coffin when Christian wasn't in it. They talk about why they came to the island. Hurley only needed by told by Jacob; Jack thought he was broken and hoped the island could fix him.

They get to the Lighthouse and Jack breaks down the door. Upstairs is a wheel with mirrors. Hurley says they have to move the wheel to 108 degrees. As they start to turn the wheel, Jack starts to see images flash. He sees where Jin and Sun got married and he sees the church where Sawyer's parents funeral was. He sees his name on the wheel and wants Hurley to turn it to 23. Hurley doesn't so Jack does. It shows a picture of his childhood home. Jack freaks out and demands to speak to Jacob. Hurley says it doesn't work like that but there is no reasoning with Jack. Rather than maybe play with the wheel and see what other places they can see or something fun like that, Jack smashes the mirrors.

Outside the Lighthouse Hurley talks to Jacob. Turns out he really doesn't care about the Lighthouse, he just needed Jack to see how important it is. Jack has something that he needs to do but he needs to find it on his own. Some people like Hurley can be told what to do, others like Jack have to stare at the ocean for a while. Plus Jacob needs to make sure that they are far away from the Temple because someone very bad is headed there and it is too late to help anyone.

Claire

I really wasn't into the Claire storyline. She is batshit crazy in the woods, caring for her "baby" which is an animal carcass. She insists that the Others took her baby because her father and her friend told her. She was tortured by the Others at the Temple (similar to Sayid it appears). Jin tells her that Kate has Aaron in hopes of saving Justin. Claire chops him in the abdomen anyway. That wouldn't have killed Justin instantly either. It would have been a long painful death for him. Jin says he was lying about Kate to try and save Justin but that the Others have her baby, Jin has seen him and will take Claire to the Temple. Good says Claire, because she would have had to kill Kate. Then Locke shows up and Claire says that isn't John, it's her friend.

I see the parallels to Rousseau but Rousseau had her child taken from her at gunpoint and has every reason to be upset and vengeful. Claire abandoned her baby. She lost parental rights. She has no right to go accusing people of stealing her baby. While I would love to see Claire take down Kate, I think I would root for Kate in that fight. I mean she took care of Aaron when Claire left him for dead. She has no one to blame but herself. I don't care if she had the infection or not.

Thoughts

Ok first, we found out some more about the candidates. With the help of HD and DVR's you can freeze the picture to see the names on the wheel. He are some notables that I have found so far:

124 - Dawson (Michael)
117 - Linus (Probably Ben)
109 - Friendly (Tom)
108 - Wallace - Don't know who this is but this is what Hurley was going to turn the wheel to
104 - Lewis (Charlotte)
102 - Montand
101- Faraday
58 - Burke (I think)
20 - Rousseau

And finally:

51 - Austen

I'm not sure why we didn't see her on Jacob's wall but Kate is on the wheel and her name is most definitely not crossed out. So Kate is a candidate after all. I'm still interested to see if MiB knows this or maybe Kate becomes some secret weapon because he doesn't know. I'm not sure.

Adam and Eve - After watching "House of the Rising Sun" again, I'm moving away from Rose and Bernard as Adam and Eve. I lean more towards Jack and Kate. I think the black and white rocks will mean something too. Perhaps Jack will take Jacob's place and Kate will take MiB's place? I don't know that I like that explanation but I think it will be something closer to that than just a throwaway about Rose and Bernard.

All in all, not great yet, but it did set up some stuff that should pay off nicely in the future. I'm still having trouble caring about the flashes. I cared about flash forward and back because they were the same characters on the same timeline. It informed their character. These aren't the same characters. All it tells me is that they fit certain archetypes no matter what timeline they are in and I'm not sure that I really care right now. Again, I'm sure once that timeline pays itself off I will look at it differently, but right now, I'm just so-so. Lots of set up right now. I know there are still 13 hours to go and they have plenty of time to tie it together, but I'm starting to get impatient. I hate waiting a week to see more set up.

Hopefully next week we see the showdown at the Temple. I'm not sure that its good news for guys like Miles but we'll see what happens. Side thought. What is the deal with Ilana? What a useless character thus far. I mean she was set up to be this important character who knew and had a history with Jacob and we've seen her for like 2 minutes and she just cries. That's about all I have right now.

Hot For Teacher - 6.04 "The Substitute"

So in the fourth hour of the final season we get a Locke-centric episode. I believe firmly now that last week's outcry over "What Kate Does" had more to do with the fact that people dislike Kate than anything that was going on in the show. Through about 45 minutes of last night's episode, nothing of note had really happened. It was very similar to "What Kate Does". But I like Locke a lot more and found his alternate timeline to be compelling. The MiB and Sawyer storyline was slow but really finished strong. With that, let's dive in.

Alternate Timeline

We open with a blue van driving into a nice suburban neighborhood. The handicap door opens to the van and out rolls John Locke. Of course the electronic mechanism that lowers his wheelchair gets stuck before the bottom and Locke tried to do a wheelie off the ramp and onto his front lawn. FAIL! So now he is sprawled out on his lawn and sure enough, the sprinkler system goes on. The alternate timeline does not appear to be much kinder to John Locke. His luggage gets lost, he's still handicapped, he falls out of his chair, he's getting soaked. Poor Locke. But wait, was that a slight smile I saw on his face. The door opens and out walks Helen. Finally it looks like something might be going Locke's way. Locke is in the bath and Helen is on the phone complaining and she relates to Locke that she is sick of picking out all of the wedding details. They're getting married! She doesn't want to deal with the hassle and wants to call her parents and Locke's father and do it shotgun style in Vegas. So apparently in the alt. timeline Locke and his father have at least some sort of a relationship. Which begs the question: how did Locke become paralyzed? I have a hard time believing that he was pushed out of a window by Anthony Cooper but then patched things up enough to think of inviting him to an intimate wedding. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. We'll see. Helen finds Jack's business card in Locke's pocket and and thinks it might be his destiny. Locke doesn't appear so convinced.

Locke is back to work at the box company. Randy comes over and seems pretty friendly. Maybe things are so bad for Locke in the alt. timeline. Nope. Randy is the same old dick or "huge douche". Locke is fired. After packing his stuff he heads out to his van which he refuses to park in handicap. There is a big yellow Hummer parked close to his van so he can't get in. Locke will show him. He starts to lower the ramp but of course it gets stuck. Locke bangs on the car and the alarm starts going off. Around the corner comes Hurley. Locke yells at him for parking so close to his space. Hurley apologizes and says a spot should have been reserved. He owns the place. John tells him he was just fired. Hurley gives him the number to a temp agency that he also owns and says they will hook him up. Cheer up, things are going to work out.

Locke goes in for an interview with the temp agency. Lynn Karnoff wants to know what kind of an animal he sees himself as. Instead of reading tarot cards in the alt. universe, she can see your future job depending on what type of animal you are. Locke gets agitated and wants to talk to a supervisor. It's Rose. Same old sassy Rose. Locke wants to work construction, but Rose says that's unrealistic. Nobody is going to tell Locke what he can't do. She wants him to be realistic. John wants to know what Rose knows about being realistic. Well Locke, she has terminal cancer. She has come to accept the reality of it and get on living what life she has left. Oh snap!

Locke gets out of bed and looks miserable. He calls Jack's office but hangs up. Helen wants to know who it was. It's Jack. Oh great, when are you meeting with him. NEVER! Knock at the door. It's Locke's lost luggage. Locke tells Helen he got fired because he lied about going to a conference. He went on a walkabout. They told him he couldn't do it. Of course he couldn't. He needs to stop expecting miracles because they aren't going to happen. Helen rips up Jack's business card and says there are miracles.

Locke is now a substitute. First it's gym class and then it's biology, teaching the reproductive system. Tough draw for a substitute. For lunch he heads to the teachers lounge and Ben Linus is complaining about emptying the coffee grounds. Ben teaches European History.

Now if you think for one second that I buy that Ben is a simple high school European History teacher you got another thing coming. If we assume the bomb as the point of divergence (this is a big assumption that could be proven wrong in the future, but let's start with this) then Ben would have been shot as a child, dipped in the magic waters, and "changed," lost his innocence. The bomb apparently does not blow up the island and Ben is able to make his way off the island. Now maybe he was able to domesticate himself, but I think there is more going on here with Ben. He's plotting and scheming something but I'm not sure what just yet. You heard it here first.

On Island Timeline

The MiB is floating around the island in smokey mode and apparently spying on Sawyer. He is now back in the jungle in bodily form and grabs his machete to cut Richard down. Locke wants what he has always wanted, for Richard to come with him. Richard wants to know why the MiB looks like Locke. Because he needed access to Jacob and Locke was a candidate. A candidate for what? Richard, you mean you don't know? Why were you following Jacob if you didn't know why? I would never had kept you in the dark. Come with me and I'll tell you everything. Richard refuses to go with him. MiB sees a little blonde boy in the jungle with bloody arms. He looks visibly shaken. He leaves Richard.

Illana is crying in the statue. Ben comes in and Illana wants to know what happened. Locke took the form of a pillar of smoke and killed them all. And Jacob? Yup. Where is his body? It burned up. Illana goes over and takes some of the ash from the fire and puts it in a bag. Ben wants to know why Locke took Richard? Because he is "recruiting."

Locke goes into Sawyer's house and Sawyer is drunk. I thought you were dead. I am. Sawyer pours him a drink. Sawyer recognizes that MiB is not Locke. Locke was scared even when he was pretending he wasn't. This guy isn't scared. Why is Sawyer not more upset at the fact that Locke is now alive? Because have you lived on this island for the past 3 years?! Sawyer needs to go with MiB because he can answer the most important question. Why are you on this island? Sawyer needs to put on pants.

Everyone else put Sun and Lapidus have gone to the Temple. Good idea, we should go there too, it's the safest place on the island and Jin is there if he is alive. We need to bury John. They carry him to the graveyard. Why did you bring his body to the Temple? We need to show the others what they're up against. Won't he just change shapes again? He is stuck in John's body (which I'm not sure I understand). Ben gives the eulogy. Locke was a believer, a man of faith. He was a better man than Ben will ever be and he regrets murdering him. Kind of sad, but probably the most honest Ben has ever been.

MiB and Sawyer are in the jungle and young boy appears again. Now Sawyer can see him. A chase ensues and MiB trips and falls at the boy's feet. "You know the rules, you can't kill him." This upsets Flocke who screams, "don't tell me what I can't do!" Richard runs out to grab Sawyer and says that the MiB wants to kill him and everyone he cares about. They need to get to the Temple. Sawyer refuses and Richard runs off before MiB returns. Who were you talking to? Nobody, did you find the kid? What kid? Riiiiight.

Sawyer asks if MiB has read "Of Mice and Men"? That was after his time. Sawyer explains the ending of the book and then pulls a gun on Locke and wants to know what happens if he shoots him. Let's find out. What are you MiB? He is trapped, but he was a man who felt all of those quintessential human emotions. James you are so close, it would be a shame to turn back now.

They get to a cliff and must climb down a ladder, perhaps you would call it a Jacob's ladder? (see what I did there?) Sawyer almost falls off but MiB saves him and they enter a cave. There is a scale with one black stone and one white stone. MiB throws the white stone into the water and the scale tips in favor of black. "It's an inside joke." He lights a torch and shows James the reason why he is on the island. There is a wall covered with names and numbers crossed out. Who wrote all of these? It was a man named Jacob. Was Jacob? He died yesterday. Not all the names are crossed out. Who remains?

4 - Locke
8 - Reyes
15 - Ford
16 - Jarrah
23 - Shephard
42 - Kwon

The numbers! Sawyer mentions that he never met Jacob, but Locke says that he did probably when he was very vulnerable. Jacob manipulated him into making choices that really weren't choices at all. Jacob was pushing him to the island. They were all candidates for Jacob's job protecting the island. Protect it from what? NOTHING, it's an island! Sawyer has three choices. Do nothing, see how it all plays out. Maybe his name will get crossed off like MiB does to Locke's. Do Jacob's job and protect the island from nothing. Or they could leave the island and never look back. Is Sawyer ready to go home? Hell Yes. Cut to black. No the most compelling cut to black, but the last scene was really cool.

So Lostpedia apparently took screencaps of these names and came up with a big list of as many names as they could. Some include :

20 - Rousseau; 31 - Rutherford; 55 - Burke; 70 - Faraday; 117 - Linus; 134 - Chang; 140 - Lewis; 171 - Straume; 195 - Pace; 313 - Littleton; and also a Goodspeed without a number.

WHERE IS KATE?! She was touched by Jacob but she isn't one of the Final Five. Hell she isn't even on the list (that we know of at least). So what is her deal? Maybe we'll get some more info on this someday. Is Jacob really protecting the island from anything or is the MiB right that it's just a damn island? Who is the little boy? Looks like it could be a young Jacob. The bloody arms are interesting. More interesting is that the island can apparently show visions even to the MiB. Again with the rules. I want to know what the rules are! Alright this has already dragged on a little long so I will leave it up to others to post questions and observations in the comments.

Next week: "Lighthouse" apparently a Jack-centric episode.

Alternative Timeline is My Anti-Valentine

A happy belated Valentines Day to all the dateless wonders out there. Kennedy, I'm looking at you.

This being my first post, I'm going big picture and discussing the alternate timeline story-telling device. I understand that it's impossible to adequately judge something after such a short time. But I'm going to complain anyway.

First, I think it's a waste of time. There seems to be a lot of story left to tell, and a short time to tell it. The story on the island is as compelling as they come. It's the story that we've been wrapped up in since day 1. It deserves to be center stage in the final season. When the narrative switches to the alternative timeline, its almost as if the show is going to commercial. I move off the edge of my seat, relax, look up Aldo's character entry in lostpedia.com, and wait for the action to resume.

Second, I think its gimmicky and lazy. I'm sure there were people saying the same thing about the switch from flashbacks to flashforwards. But the difference is that the flashforwards followed the same characters who existed in the same universe. Watching the alternate timeline is like watching a entirely different show. They've hit the reset button on the characters we've followed for all these years. Forget the incredible depth established through five years of character development. Forget the intricate web of relationships the writers have created. We're back to a cast of one-dimensional characters who, frankly, I don't care about.

Sure it's cool to see the characters interact in ways never possible on the island. The Jack/Locke scene in the airport baggage claim room was exceptional. But what do I get out of Kate hijacking Claire and then having a change of heart when she finds the stuffed animal? "Wow, despite the fact that she's wanted for murder, this outlaw may just have have a kinder, gentler side!" Thank you for beating me over the head with that message. I get it. You've told me in fifteen minutes of cliched storytelling what you've already told me over the course of five seasons of subtle, nuanced, and intelligent character development. Oh, but I forgot. This time you sprinkled in a healthy portion of Dr. Artz for the "oh, I remember that guy!" effect. And let's not forget Ethan "My Name Is an Anagram for Other Man" Rom. If they end up developing Ethan as an important part of the story, and if his role is linked in some way to his life on the island, then placing him in the storyline may be effective. If not, it's just a gimmick.

Third, it deviates from the Whatever Happened Happened rules (or at least relegates WHH to one of multiple timelines where WHH just so happens to play out as such). I was a big fan of WHH. Seeing how the character's effort to change the past ended up creating it was some of the best storytelling I've seen on the show. Farraday's story was one of my favorites. He is sent to the island by his mother who knows that he will be killed by her younger self. He experiences the death of Charlotte, who tells him about the "scary man" warning her to leave, and he cannot resist but doing exactly that. It was a great story, and it was a ringing endorsement of WHH.

But even after testing WHH's validity over and over again, now the writers have suddenly dropped it in Season 6 in order to pursue this uninspired alternate timeline story. Actually, I wouldn't have minded if they had really dropped it completely. But they didn't. Instead what we have is a middle ground. "You're both right," was the writers' ultimate answer to the debate. Did Daniel Farraday die for nothing?

But ultimately, for all my dissatisfaction, this is the story. And I have faith that the writers will be able to pull it off. I just can't see how they will (which is why I'm not an award-winning Hollywood writer). But I can imagine three possible reasons for the alternative timeline.

• (1) Both stories will somehow become interwoven, with the event in the original timeline affecting the event in the alternative timeline and vice versa.
• (2) It's simply a backdrop against which to view the characters and event in the original timeline.
• (3) The writers are setting the groundwork for a new Lost spinoff where we follow the original cast around their everyday lives.

I don't like option (1). It's too 'out there' for my liking. I can swallow smoke monsters, possessed dead, time flashes, and a moving island. Even if they there is no explanation for these phenomena, I can suspend my disbelief and trust that it's possible by some supernatural power. But I don't think I could ever believe that the universe split into separate timelines, but those timelines can somehow still interact with or affect each other. Unfortunately, I think this is the way that they're going to end up going. Juliet saying "it worked", Desmond on the plane, those deja vu-esque looks the alternative timeline characters have hinting that they know something is up. . .

I wouldn't mind option (2) if it was done well. The season premiere showed how it could work. The plane landing is one of my all time top-five scenes. You see how everyone on the plane, for one reason or another, needed the plane to crash--they needed the island. I especially liked how Jack and Locke were the last to get off the plane, because they needed it the most. They linger there, almost knowing that they're missing something. I wouldn't mind if the show ended there, on a note like that. Or I could see something at the end where Jack is healing Locke in the alternative timeline while facing off against Flocke in the original timeline. There are a lot of possibilities to use the alternative timeline effectively, and obviously the writers are creative enough to do this. But then you have episodes like last week's which have nowhere near the same effect. Hopefully it's just that Kate is the most confused and poorly written character on the show, and they're saving the better characters for later episodes.

Option (3) isn't serious, although the actor who plays Dr. Artz hopes it is.

NEXT UP: Since I mentioned it, my next post will be my all-time, Rob Gorden, Championship Vinyl, top five moments from Lost. Please feel free to post your own.

What Kate Does: Get Down with "the Sickness"

I had hoped to write a full-blown post discussing "the Sickness"--what we already knew and what we learned in the latest episode. Anyhow, it's not going to happen, so instead I'll jot a few ideas/thoughts here and look for some insight in the comments.

Briefly what we know:

-We first heard about the Sickness from Danielle Rousseau way back in Season 1 when Sayid first finds here in 1.09 "Solitary." We find that Rousseau was essentially telling the truth, when we are shown her story in 5.05 "This Place is Death." Rousseau's team is attacked by the Smoke Monster, Montand loses his arm and is dragged down under the Temple walls, and the rest of the team (minus Rousseau) goes under to retrieve him. Then, about one month later, we see that Rousseau has killed the rest of her team. Her husband, Robert, begs for his life under gunpoint; but when Rousseau appears to relent, he quickly raises his own gun and tries to murder his pregnant wife. The gun lacks a firing pin though, and Rousseau shoots and kills him. While we still don't know a great deal about the effects of the sickness, Robert's actions at least give us some clue that the sickness is real: by all appearances, Robert did seem "changed" or "infected" and, for whatever reason, he was motivated to try to kill his uninfected, pregnant wife.

-Dharma and the Others also perform actions which might have been intended to ward off the sickness. Recall that Desmond consistently took a vaccination while living in the Swan hatch. It is possible that this vaccination is tied to the sickness, although this should be called into question considering the fact that Dharma may have simply been using the "Quarantine" threat and vaccinations as a means of scaring the button-pressing teams to prevent their leaving the hatch. Additionally, recall that Ethan was intent on giving Claire shots (2.15 "Maternity Leave") to prevent her baby from getting sick. However, it is most likely that these shots were related to Juliet's attempt to stop pregnant women from dying on the Island and not related to the sickness.

Claire and Sayid -- We've been told (and will assume that) both Claire and Sayid have been infected. If we compare their cases, I think we can now assume that Claire, like Sayid, died and then was reanimated ("claimed"). Before I examine her case, let's quickly run through what I believe happened to Sayid:

-Sayid was shot and mortally wounded. Jacob, as a ghost, told Hurley to take him to the Temple as a last-ditch effort to save his life. Within the Temple is a life-saving spring, which I think we can safely assume was the means used by Richard to save young Ben's life in 5.12 "Dead is Dead." However, the springwater was no longer clear (likely implying a relation between the springwater's power and Jacob) and the water failed to save Sayid (note that the water failed also to heal Dogen's hand when he tested it). Sayid died and was only reanimated by being "claimed". In "What Kate Does," we find that the Others determined that Sayid was infected with the sickness, or as the Others called it, he had been "claimed." Over time, everything that Sayid once was will be changed.

-Claire, I believe, also died and was also "claimed." Recall that in 4.09 "The Shape of Things to Come," Widmore's mercenaries explode Claire's house. Sawyer apparently saves her from the wreckage, picking her up as she says, "Charlie?" in a daze. After the attack, Sawyer, Claire (with Aaron), and Miles head back to the beach. Miles, who we know can communicate with the dead, takes an unusual amount of interest in Claire, causing Sawyer to angrily put a restraining order on Miles. That night, Christian Shepherd (Claire and Jack's father) appears to Claire and leads her away causing her to desert Aaron (4.10 "Something Nice Back Home"). Finally, in 4.11 "Cabin Fever," Locke finds Claire with Christian Shepherd in Jacob's cabin. She acts in a very strange manner, showing no concern about having left Aaron out in the jungle, which is perhaps a sign of the initial changes caused by the sickness.

Now, in "LA X" there is a subtle, but important, scene in which Miles gives the recently dead body of Sayid a strange look. This look seemed to suggest that something was unusual with Sayid--that his body was not like those dead bodies that Miles normally encounters. Perhaps those that are "claimed" do not "talk" with Miles like a normal dead person does? Whatever it is exactly, the look was very similar to the way that Miles took interest in (I argue, the recently dead) Claire. So I believe that Claire underwent the same process as Sayid: she died in the attack and was quickly reanimated ("claimed").

Last thoughts:

1) Why didn't the Others just kill Sayid themselves once they found he was "claimed"? I think it's because Sayid was already dead, and so perhaps the poison pill, taken willingly, is the only means of "killing" a "claimed" person that has previously died. Contrast this with Rousseau's sick husband, who she was able to simply kill with a gun. My thought is that perhaps there are two ways to get the sickness: a) while alive, like Rousseau's team, and b) by being "claimed" when dead like Sayid and Claire. I assume we'll find out more soon.

2) Who is doing the "claiming?" The Others don't specially say, but I think it's fairly obvious that it is the Man in Black (fake Locke). Rousseau's team contracted the sickness after encountering the Smoke Monster and following it under the Temple. Christian Shepherd came to take Claire, and we've long suspected that he might have a connection to the MIB. Finally, it would make sense that the Others, followers of Jacob, would fear those "claimed" by Jacob's enemy. Also kind of cool, note that Jacob's symbol--the statue, Tawaret--is the goddess of birth, while the Smoke Monster's symbol Anubis is the god of the underworld. It would make sense that Jacob would claim the living, while MIB would claim the dead.

6.03 - What Kate Does

So I will say up front that this episode didn't really do it for me. I think that is probably because it came on the heels of four of the most exciting hours Lost has had so far combined with the fact that Kate is my least favorite character. With that said, it was a new episode, so lets dive in.

Alternate Timeline

Kate hijacks the cab, steals Claire's purse, and kicks her out of the cab. After getting her cuffs removed she sees the picture of a preggers Claire and some baby stuff. She has a change of heart and somehow tracks Claire down at a bus stop. She offers to drive Claire to the house of the couple who is going to adopt her baby. At the house, the woman's husband left her, her life is falling apart, and she can't take Claire's baby anymore. Kate yells at the woman and Claire starts having contractions. Is Kate going to deliver Claire's baby again? Kate brings Claire to the hospital where we find that her doctor is Ethan Goodspeed.

Here is where I could use some help on the timeline. In "The Incident," Dr. Chang evacuates all women and children from the island. I presume this would include Amy and Ethan. But later he is seen living with The Others. Did he leave the island and come back? Or did he never leave in the first place? If he never left in the first place, this would point to the fact that the bomb is not the immediate cause of the island sinking, because Ethan would have been on the island, and we see him alive in 2004 AT. If he left the island, the bomb may still be the cause as Ethan would have been off the island by then. We will have to see if any of our other characters from 1977 who were on island when the bomb went off show up in the 2004 AT (Ben, Richard, Ellie, Widmore).

Anyway, Ethan offers Claire drugs to stop the baby from coming, but he doesn't want to stick her with needles unless he needs to (contrast with the multiple attempts to inject Claire on the island). The baby's heartbeat goes flat and Claire wants to know what's wrong with Aaron?! It was like she already knew the name. Fate. She covers for Kate when some officers come asking and then gives Kate her credit card to help her our. Kate thinks Claire should keep the baby (and so does Richard Malkin...Claire, take a hint).

Original Timeline

Lennon hurries to tell Dogen that Sayid is alive. They seem concerned and want to speak with him alone. Jack doesn't like this idea, because Jack is hell bent on ruining everyone's lives. Rob McElhenney (Aldo) is back and apparently still alive. Sawyer starts shooting and wants to leave. Dogen says he really must stay. Sawyer leaves anyway. Kate, seeing an opportunity to continue her role as the island whore, says that she can track Sawyer and bring him back because she can be very persuasive when she has to be (translation: I will have sex with him). Jin goes with Kate.

Sayid is strapped down in Dogen's lab area and subjected to a series of "tests." The first involves putting ash on him, the second is electrocuting him, and the third is burning him with a hot poker. He reacts exactly the way I would react if I were being tortured but apparently he failed the test. When Jack finds out that Sayid was tortured he storms off to see Dogen and Lennon. They explain that Sayid is "infected" and he must take a pill with medicine. Sayid can't be forced to take the pill, he must take it willingly (free will working here) so Jack must ask him to as his friend. Jack takes the pill to Sayid and Sayid says that he trusts Jack and will take the pill if Jack says to. While the entire audience realizes that there is something wrong with Sayid because "dead is dead" Jack can't seem to get out of his own way and decides not to give Sayid the pill.

Jack goes back to see Dogen and they have some discussion about why he uses a translator when he can speak English. Dogen explains that it keeps a barrier between the leader and those he is in charge of so that they will accept difficult decisions that he has to make even if they don't like them. Sounds a lot like how Jacob ran things. Dogen was "brought" to the island just like everybody else and Jack really should "know what he means." Jack demands to know what is in the pill but Dogen insists that he has to trust him. Jack, again makes the wrong choice (I'm not sure the last time Jack made the correct choice...perhaps free will is wasted on Jack) and swallows the pill which turns out to be poison. Luckily Dogen is a master of kung fu and is able to get Jack to spit it up. He explains to Jack that there is a darkness in Sayid and if it spreads to his heart he will lose everything that they previously knew of him. Jack wants to know how they know this and it is because the same thing happened to his sister (Claire).

Out on the search party we run into a trip wire that Kate assumes must be put there by Rousseau. But Rousseau has been dead for years, this must be a trap put here by...shut up Justin! Who is this mysterious person planting traps in the jungle? Aldo reminds Kate that she tricked him with the old Star Wars switcheroo and then knocked him out with the butt of a rifle. Kate proceeds to repeat this with the butt of her pistol. The trap springs and knocks Justin out. Kate and Jin separate and Kate reveals that she isn't bringing Sawyer back but just wants to find him and be with him. Juliet hasn't been dead for a day and Kate smells blood in the water. Kate finds Sawyer who is back at his house in Dharmaville crying. They share a moment on the dock about Juliet and how Sawyer was going to ask her to marry him. He throws the ring in the water. Some people are just meant to be alone. Single tear.

Back in the Jungle, Aldo and Justin meet up with Jin and Aldo wants to kill Jin. Jin runs away and is caught in a bear trap (which should probably have cut his foot off). Just as Aldo is going to shoot Jin, crazy infected Claire comes to the rescue to shoot Aldo and Justin. What did Justin ever do? He didn't want to shoot Jin, that was all on Aldo. Poor guy. Jin says, "Claire?" and we get a look at what Claire looks like after three years in the jungle. She seems to pause for a moment in recognition and we cut to black.

Thoughts

All in all I didn't think it was a really exciting episode. I don't mind the character driven episodes but I just couldn't really get into it. Maybe I am too biased against Kate. We got nothing from the Flocke/Richard group, which was a little disappointing but I think the previews for next week, "The Substitute," made it look like we will get some more answers on that. The infection that Sayid has, I assume, is the same one that infected Robert, Lacombe, and Brennan (Rousseau's science team). They got it after entering the Temple so maybe the smoke monster has something to do with it. Sayid's body was "claimed" according to Lennon. I'll be interested to see how the rest of the Losties take the news. Hurley clearly will not be rational about it and will side with Sayid. I didn't get too much out of the flash sideways but maybe I wasn't watching very closely. I'll be interested to hear from others and maybe it will jog some other thoughts I have.

UPDATE: Apparently Damon Lindelof does not like that I wasn't a big fan of last night's episode. I promise to try and not piss him off in the future. I don't think I would fall into the category of people calling this episode "filler," but I think they have raised people's expectations perhaps unnecessarily high. I mean there is a whole season left to tell the story and ABC keeps promoting it as the final episodes of the series where all the answers are coming. I think after LA X people were ready for some more answers and the episode gave us fairly little on that front. Season one was a lot of backstory and character driven. I loved season 1. But I watched it in like 2 days. It's hard, I think, waiting a week between episodes, especially when people are so excited for answers. Like I said, I didn't hate the episode, it just didn't do it for me.

FYI: Listen to the Damon and Carlton Podcast.

That is, if you don't do so already.

(Link)