Is Hans Blix Lost?

Hi folks. Many of you have asked/written about our recent lack of Lost posts. As much as it pains us to admit it, we think we have lost our Lost blogger. Hans has a lot going on these days, and hasn't had the time to entertain us with his fabulously witty posts. We will attempt to woo him back , or we will hire a new Lost blogger. The show must go on! Anyway, here's the un-fun, quick & dirty version of what's happened in the past two weeks...

Lost – Something Nice Back Home
Jack’s health is seriously compromised (appendicitis), forcing Kate and Juliet to work together to save him. Meanwhile, Sawyer, Claire, Aaron, and Miles continue their trek from Locke’s camp to the beach.

Lost – Cabin Fever
Locke discovers the location of Jacob’s cabin, and life aboard the freighter becomes increasingly perilous.

If you'd like to give a better recap or discuss what you think is happening with the island, please feel free to do so in the comments! Who knows, maybe YOU could be our new Lost blogger!

They've changed the rules.

Lost – The Shape of Things To Come
Locke’s camp comes under attack and Jack tries to identify a body that has washed ashore.

What is there to say about this episode that couldn’t be said in 4 minutes? I’ll give you the answer: a lot! It was most definitely a game-changing episode. First off, we get a flash-forward of Ben and Sayid. Now we know that Charles Widmore has something to do with why Sayid is teamed up with Ben later on – he had Sayid’s wife Nadia killed. I have a sneaking suspicion that Ben may have had a hand in that as well, but that will play out later. Sayid is convinced he needs to help Ben assassinate all known associates of Charles Widmore. This week’s flash-forward started with Ben waking up in the middle of a desert wearing a parka with a gun wound in his right arm. Two Middle Eastern gentlemen toting AK-47s ride up to him and act threatening, to say the least. While one of them is searching Ben’s pockets, he suddenly transforms into Jason Bourne, calmly and efficiently ending their lives.

The ship’s “security” guards have obviously made it onto the island since they killed Rousseau and took Alex captive last episode. They make their way into Locke’s camp and proceed to mow down anything that moves. Sawyer is very sneaky and manages to make it over to Claire’s cabin in order to drag her virtually untouched body out of the wreckage of her cabin. Apparently on the island you can launch a rocket at a cabin, reducing the entire thing to burning toothpicks, and if only one person is inside she’ll survive and just be a bit shell-shocked.

The main security guard, Martin Keamy, tries to get Ben to come out of his cabin by holding a gun to Alex’s head. Ben calls Keamy’s bluff and Keamy paints the ground with Alex’s brains. I saw Hitman this weekend so I can assure you I know exactly what happens when someone is shot in the head. If you too would like to know, please rent Hitman because I don’t want to think about that movie ever again. Ben is left in shock, mumbling something about changing the rules. He runs into his secret room and summons the smoke monster, which turns Keamy’s “security” team into pulp. Ben goes over to say goodbye to his daughter, which is a really touching moment and I’ve got to give Emerson props for the way he acted. He made Ben into a very human character in that scene.

Locke and his crew move out. There is some strife, so Sawyer, Claire, Miles, and Hurley decide to head back to the beach to join Jack’s group. Ben and Locke have decided to head to Jacob’s cabin to find out what’s going on. Since Hurley is the only person who knows where Jacob’s cabin is, he is forced to stay with Locke and Ben at gunpoint. While all of this was going down I didn’t get the feeling that Hurley really wanted to go to the beach. I think he wants to stay with Locke and Ben. I may be completely wrong on that guess, but that’s the nature of the show.

The episode started out with Bernard finding the body of the doctor aboard the ship washing up on the beach. The satellite phone was broken, so Faraday rigged it so it could transmit Morse code to the ship. Obviously Jack has suspicions about Faraday and why his group is on the island, and they were confirmed during this episode. Faraday sent a message to the boat asking about the doctor, then lied to the group. But, Jack had Bernard on hand to call him out. The people on the boat said that the doctor was fine and nothing was wrong on their end. The island’s time difference is rearing its nasty head again. Jack violently confronts Faraday about why they are on the island and Faraday admits that rescuing the survivors of Flight 815 is not on their agenda. Jack has had a stomach bug all episode and right at this moment he hits the ground like Mike Tyson when he fought Buster Douglas.

The most interesting scene in this episode occurs during the flash-forward with Ben. He breaks into Charles Widmore’s house and confronts him in his bedroom. Charles has taken the Chuck Bukowski method of sleeping to heart and pours himself a tall glass of scotch to wash away his dreams. Ben accuses Charles of killing Alex, and Charles tells Ben it was his fault. Charles also makes it clear to Ben that the island will be his again. Ben says that because Charles changed the rules by killing Alex, he is going to kill Penny.

• I’m not convinced Rousseau is dead. She seems too tough to go out the way she did.
• I like how the Lost producers were like, “What are we going to do with all these random survivors that walk around and carry firewood and stuff?” and then the another producer is all, “I know, let’s get a bunch of guns and shoot them all and blow some shit up.” I didn’t catch the credits so would someone please check and tell me if Michael Bay directed this episode?
• When Ben finds himself in the desert and doesn’t know what year it is…that’s a telling moment. Now we know that time travel has something to do with everything.
• This episode began with a top shot of Ben splayed out in the desert. The series began with a shot of Jack splayed out on the beach. Hmmmm.
• When they’re playing Risk and Hurley says, “Australia is the key to the whole game.” Am I the only one who gets the sense that may have more meaning than just talking about Risk?

I'm not super impressed.

Lost – Meet Kevin Johnson
Ben knows about an impending attack to he prompts daughter Alex to escape from Locke’s camp. On the freighter, Sayid confronts Ben’s spy.

The episode tonight was a little different. Locke trotted out Miles, who tells everyone at the barracks that they're after Ben. Ben volunteers the information that once they have him they will kill everyone on the island. Of course they all want to know how Ben knows this so he tells everyone his spy on the boat is Michael. Ben tells Alex, Carl and Rousseau to head to "the temple," where the rest of the Others are hiding. They agree to go, and en route Rousseau and Carl are shot dead by a mysterious sniper. Alex says she's Ben's daughter and the shooting stops.

Sayid and Desmond are still on the freighter. They have very few answers as to why Michael is there. They have a brief encounter when he says he's there to die. Sayid and Desmond finally get him alone and Sayid makes him tell his story. He and Walt got off the island and made it back to the mainland. Walt won't speak with him because he knows what Michael did to get them off the island. Tom Friendly shows up off island to recruit Michael to be a spy on the freighter for Ben. Michael has been trying to kill himself but no matter what he can't. Tom tells Michael that the island isn't finished with him yet, so whatever he tries won't work. He also shows Michael a receipt for a 777 and the graveyard in Thailand where the bodies were dug up from and placed in the 777 at the bottom of the ocean that was all paid for by Charles Widmore. Eventually Michael agrees to get on the freighter to make amends for killing Ana Lucia and Libby, and to help get everyone off the island.

There are a few stunts that happen. Miles says something creepy about how he knows Michael's name isn't Kevin Johnson. Michael stumbles on some guys shooting skeet off the boat and they laugh when he says he thought they were on a rescue mission. When Michael tries to set off a bomb to take out the freighter, a little note pops up instead that says "not yet." This was something Ben rigged up because he calls Michael later saying he's Walt and tells Michael that there are innocent people on the boat and he doesn't kill innocent people. Michael then goes about sabotaging the ship right and left by disabling her communications equipment and the engines. Sayid hears all of this, twists Michael's arm behind his back, and hauls him off to the Captain's quarters, turning him in for sabotage.

• Keanu Nolte (Frank) says that he's out there because he and Charles Widmore thinks there are survivors from Oceanic 815. The men with guns don't seem to care much about survivors. It will be interesting to see what's going on here.
• It's official. Aaron is one of the Oceanic 6. That blows my theory about something happening between Claire, Jack, and Kate that has Kate ending up with Aaron.
• Everything Desmond says he sees has come true. He also told Charlie that he saw Claire getting on a chopper to get off the island. I wonder how this is going to work out.
• Judging by the preview for the next episode I think Claire might be in trouble. I think we're going to get a full dose of Lost when they're all back and put together.

Sorry there isn't much to say about this episode. It was an essential episode if you want to know what's going on, but it wasn't particularly exciting. I can't say I was super impressed. Maybe I'll think of something later, and I'll write about it. I think I'm going to rewatch this episode this weekend, and maybe a few others. Since we have a bit of a break I'll post about some theories I have and what not. Until then...

The Professor Speaks

Lost – Ji Yeon
Juliet is forced to reveal startling news to Jin when Sun threatens to go to Locke’s camp. Sayid and Desmond begin to get an idea of the freighter crew’s mission when they meet the ship’s captain.

I was killing time before this episode, while re-watching last week’s less-than-stellar effort, by screwing around on ABC.com. They have a handy little tool with which you can get a nickname from Sawyer. You just answer a few questions about your particulars and it gives you a nickname. I’m “The Professor.” I think I like the name, only it seems like I’m ripping off one of those And 1 ballers. Screw that, I’m so white they named a wall paint after me. It’s called “So White You Can See Through It.” Speaking of Sawyer, we’d better get a heavy dose of Sawyer this week because I need me some sarcasm. If you want me to give you a nickname just leave your particulars in the comments and I’ll be happy to oblige.

On the freighter, the big bald guy asks Keanu Nolte (Frank) if he’s ready. Frank says that he’ll be up soon. Big guy says he’ll be there. He runs into Regina, who is Australian. She’s reading a book upside down. I couldn’t quite catch what it was. After the show I’ll check the boards. He meets Desmond and Sayid locked in the sickbay. Apparently Frank didn’t let the two of them out of the sickbay before. He gives them lima beans to eat. Thanks for the lima beans, Keanu Nolte. They actually seem like what a human-animal hybrid of Keanu Reeves and Nick Nolte would feed you. Sayid says he wants to talk to the captain and Keanu Nolte turns around and says, “No you don’t.”

On the island, Jin wants to talk about baby names. He’s convinced it’s going to be a girl. Sun doesn’t want to talk about it. She’s more concerned about getting off the island. Is it a flashback or flash forward? Sun is in a hotel. She looks a little woozy and … whoa. She calls 911 (or the Korean version) and says she needs an ambulance because she’s pregnant and something is wrong. Well, well, well, we have another of the Oceanic 6 on our hands. Do we have another flashback or flash forward? This time it’s Jin. He runs into a store and looks frantic. He needs a panda. Jin isn’t very particular he just wants any old panda. Looks like this is a flash forward, but I’m still not sure. Back on the island, Sun says Jack and Kate are back. She’s all kinds of pissed off at Juliet and talks trash about her. Kate makes a good point: iall the things Daniel and Charlotte have talked about, none of it involves rescue. I wouldn’t be too psyched about having those two around either.

On the boat, Desmond notices a note thrown underneath the door while he was sleeping. Sayid says, “It’s a note.” Good work genius. The note says, “Don’t trust the captain.” That’s the way to make a plan, guys. Back on the island, Sun introduces herself to Daniel and tells him she’s two months pregnant. She flat-out asks him if he’s there to rescue them. Daniel says it’s not really his call and obviously Sun wants to know who can make the call. Dan doesn’t answer and Sun says something snotty and walks off.

Jin and Jack have a nice little conversation in English. Yay! Jin has learned English in twenty days or so. He must be superhuman because after three years of Spanish in high school I can only count to ten and say, “I’m all good.” I also know how to say “my pork is good” but that isn’t really important. Sun tells Jin he needs to find food for two days and meet her at their tent in twenty minutes because they’re going to Locke’s camp. I don’t know who to trust more. Locke is a total badass but Jack hasn’t really led anyone wrong. Actually I’d probably do what Sun wants to do. If Daniel couldn’t say whether they were going to rescue anyone or not I would have headed straight for the barracks too. Juliet stumbles on Sun trying to find something. Sun tells her she wants prenatal vitamins and Juliet figures out that Sun wants to go somewhere. Sun spills that she’s going to Locke’s camp and Juliet tells her she can’t go because Locke doesn’t want to leave and she’ll get sick. Sun says screw that and heads for the barracks.

Flash forward. Sun is in the hospital and won’t take off her ring. They give her something for the pain. The doctor says the baby is in distress. This is intense. Sun says to get Jin. The doctor says he’s sure Jin will be here soon and Sun passes out. They flash to Jin and he has the oldest cell phone in the world. It looks old even for 2004. Someone knocks the phone out of Jin’s hand and it gets run over by a car. Jin hails a cab and puts the panda in the back seat, but then someone steals his cab and it drives off. WTF? Who steals a stuffed panda? Weird. Jin wants another panda and there is one behind the guy at the register. He throws down some serious change because he really wants that panda.

Back on the island Kate tells Sun and Jin how to get to the barracks. She says she’s going to tell Jack but she’ll give Sun a head start. Juliet storms in and says Sun can’t go. Juliet tells Jin that if he lets Sun go to the barracks his wife will be in danger. Juliet pleads with Sun, but she just walks off. In retaliation, Juliet tells Jin that Sun had an affair. What a bitch! Sun looks like she’s going to kill Juliet. She slaps her good and I think she deserves it. Jin gets this look on his face and walks off. He is really mad. I wonder if we’re going to go back to the angry, controlling Jin that Sun hates.

Sun runs over to Jin. He is very upset and doesn’t want to talk to her. He won’t even look at her. Sun apologizes but Jin is having none of it. Bernard asks to go fishing with Jin and then realizes he walked into the middle of something upsetting. Jin looks at him and tells him to come anyway. Bernard tells Jin that Rose has cancer and is dying. He says that Rose thinks the island healed her, that she didn’t want to go with Locke, and that staying with Jack was the right thing to do. Locke is a murderer and it is good karma to be with Jack. Good stuff happens when you’re with good people. Jin catches a fish and obviously they’re the good guys. If you could hear the sound I made with my mouth you would know how cheesy I thought this was.

On the boat Desmond is pacing. There is some sort of tapping sound. Sayid says he thinks someone is banging on the pipes. I wish I understood Morse code because I’d bet money that’s some sort of message. The doctor comes in and says the Captain would like to see them. Regina comes out of a doorway with a bunch of chains wrapped around her and jumps off the boat into the water. I just saw a black guy with a hoodie … was that Michael? Holy crap I wish I had TiVo right now! Captain Gault comes out and says that it’s over and to let it go. He supposes Desmond and Sayid have a few questions. He should have said that with more scorn in his tone.

Desmond and Sayid want to know why the Captain did nothing to help Regina. Gault says the crew is dealing with some sort of cabin fever and they have a saboteur. Gault says that Charles Widmore hired him and Desmond gets all wobbly eyed and says he knows Widmore. That’s Penny’s dad in case you forgot. Gault takes them into his quarters and pulls out the black box from Oceanic 815. The captain says he knows that the fake 815 crash site is a lie. He says some interesting things about how someone went to a lot of trouble to fake the death of 324 people, and that Ben is behind it and they want to catch him. I’m conflicted again. I don’t know who is out for what. Obviously Charlotte and Daniel didn’t release poison gas on the island but they aren’t there to rescue anyone, and they seem to understand that survivors of 815 might be on the island.

Back on the island, Juliet apologizes to Sun. She says she had to stop Jin and Sun from leaving in any way that she could because their best chance at survival is staying on the beach. She describes what happens to pregnant women on the island. She’s really pulling at Sun’s heartstrings to get her to stay.

Flash forward. The doctor says he must perform a c-section on Sun because the pain medicine is making it too difficult for her to have the baby naturally. Sun starts pushing and the baby starts coming out. Obviously this was not expected. She really squeezed that little baby out. If this scene doesn’t convince women not to have babies, nothing will. Jin and Sun have a baby daughter…YAY! My black heart finally feels something.

On the boat Sayid and Desmond are led to the room where they will be staying. There is blood on the wall from brain splatter and there are mice in the room. The doctor calls over a cleaning guy to clean up the blood and holy scneikes I was right. It is Michael! His name is Kevin now. Desmond and Sayid play it off like they’ve never met and they just shake hands but give him that knowing look. It’s almost like the intense look John Black does on Days of Our Lives. I hope Sayid tortures information out of Michael.

On the island Sun is making her bed. Jin brings her dinner. How sweet, he’s going to forgive her. Sun tries to explain why she cheated on him but Jin doesn’t let her. Jin says he understands she did it because of the man he was then. Jin forgives her. Awww. Sun is soooo happy. Jin says he will go to Locke’s camp if Sun wants, but she has changed her mind. She will do anything to try and get off the island now. Jin just wants to know if the baby is his. Sun tells him yes. They’re so happy and I just want to squeeze both of them! People could learn a lot from these two.

Jin goes into the hospital and the security guy won’t let him in, but tells him it’s a boy. He’s a messenger from Sun’s dad and he has a gift for the Chinese ambassador. He presents the panda to the ambassador and it’s not Sun who just had the baby. It’s a flashback. Damn it, those tricky bastards! Flash forward. Sun pulls her wedding ring out of a plastic baggie and puts it on. Hurley shows up at her door. He is dressed nicely and Sun wants him to hold the baby. Apparently she looks just like Jin. Oh no … Hurley and Sun go to see Jin’s headstone in a graveyard. This is unspeakably sad. Sun tells Jin’s grave that she named their daughter Ji Yeon just like he wanted.

• First thing is easy since it’s fresh in my mind. The date on Jin’s grave was 9/22/04, which is the same day of the plane crash. Either that’s a fake grave, Jin died trying to get Sun off of the island, or he’s alive but still on the island. It seems like Sun would be less upset if he was alive, but maybe the Oceanic 6 were told they can never go back or see anyone on the island again.
• Why was Hurley ok with no one else coming to see the baby? Also, I think this flash forward happens before he commits himself to the sanitarium.
• I did some looking and the book that Regina had upside down was The Survivors of the Chancellor by Jules Verne. It’s a novel about a shipwrecked boat. It seems to have some vague similarities with Flight 815.
• Regina and Minkowski are the only two people to talk to anyone on the island via satellite phone. Now they’re both dead. I wonder if that’s just coincidence?
• Next episode is called “Meet Kevin Johnson” and hopefully they clarify where Walt is. I can’t think of any reason Michael would just leave Walt somewhere after he fought so hard to keep him.
• Who is the good guy? Either Charles Widmore or Ben Linus faked the plane crash. Widmore certainly has the money to make something like that happen, and he seemed to know the island existed before the crash. Ben Linus has an interest as well, but I’m still not sure what kind of means he has beyond the island.
• So Hurley, Jack, Kate, Sayid, and Sun got off the island. Does Aaron count? That would close up the mystery of who the Oceanic 6 are, but I’m not convinced Aaron was one of the people who got off the island.
• Who will die next week? It could be Claire, Bernard, Sawyer, or someone else.
• Where did Frank go on the helicopter?
• For two episodes now Miles has been stuck in the boathouse with a grenade in his mouth. I might freak out if I don’t find out what happens there.

See you guys at dinner!

Lost – The Other Woman
Juliet receives an unwelcome visitor from her past and is told to track down Charlotte and Farady to stop them from completing their mission. Ben offers Locke a deal he finds enticing.

Good afternoon fellow Losties. I am currently located in Seattle and have just sequestered myself at my favorite little Seattle coffee shop to watch Lost and leech their bandwidth thereby pissing off everyone else whose internet just got a lot slower. Mwahaha.

Flashback: So Juliet is on the island and she has to talk to a therapist named Harper. They don’t talk long because they’re interrupted when Tom pops in to tell Juliet that Ben wants to see her. Juliet and Harper certainly don’t seem like they like each other very much right from the start. Tom leads Juliet over to a house where Ben is waiting with flowers. It turns out the house is a gift from Ben to Juliet for her help on the island. She doesn’t understand because she is only going to be on the island for six months. Poor Juliet! She has no idea Ben isn’t letting her go anywhere anytime soon. I’ve always wondered how many of the Others were brought there under false pretenses and then forced to stay.

Back on the beach we’re with Jack’s crew. Juliet is trying to put up a lean-to pole and Sun comes over to help her. Why aren’t Sun and Jin in this season at all? We’re six episodes in and all I get out of Sun and Jin are grunts. Jack comes over and wants to know where Daniel and Charlotte are. Nobody knows but Jin says that they went into the jungle. Jack wants to know why Jin didn’t say anything and in broken English Jin says, “You told us they were friends.” Oh Jack, maybe you shouldn’t be so trusting. They all strike out to find the two and of course it’s raining. They separate to search and Juliet finds herself all alone and the island starts whispering to her. I bet if we played those whispers backwards to forwards they would be saying “Paul is dead.”

Poof! Harper is behind Juliet. She tells Juliet she has to stop Daniel and Charlotte because they’re going to the tempest to release gas that is going to kill everyone on the island. She knows this because Ben told her to tell Juliet to stop them. She also says that Ben is exactly where he wants to be. I knew Ben was having a lot of fun torturing Locke’s brain with tiny tidbits about the island. Jack shows up, the island starts whispering, and Poof! Harper is gone. Juliet and Jack start heading for the tempest, whatever that may be.

Flashback: Juliet is at a medical facility and just lost a patient. She just got to the island and I suppose this is the first pregnant woman who has died on her watch. She hears something in the other room and goes to see what it is. There is a guy in the other room looking for gauze for a burn on his arm. Juliet talks a whole bunch of shit about Harper to this guy and it turns out he is her husband. His name is Goodwin and I can totally tell these two are gonna get it on. Juliet gets it on with everyone.

We’re back to real time and Jack wants some answers. Juliet doesn’t really tell him anything and Jack drops it. This is starting to piss me off. If a bunch of people dropped in on the island with gas masks and then wouldn’t tell me why they had them I’d turn Sayid loose on them until they started telling me why they had gas masks. Jack really sucks sometimes. Kate stumbles on Daniel and Charlotte. She gets knocked out for asking questions.

Flashback: Juliet is explaining to Ben why pregnant women on the island die. During the second trimester the immune system turns on the fetus. Ben starts looking through the microscope and to see something and puts his hand next to Juliet’s. She pulled her hand away pretty quick and looks like she just realized Ben did that on purpose. Goodwin busts in to offer Juliet a sandwich and Ben doesn’t look amused. In a minute Harper is going to tell Juliet that she knows Juliet is sleeping with Goodwin and that Ben is going to hurt Goodwin if she continues getting it on with her husband. But right when Ben made that face I knew he had a crush on Juliet and was going to kill Goodwin at some point. Harper also says that Juliet “looks just like her.” I don’t know who “her” is.

Locke is gutting something. He knows how to do everything. Claire comes over and says she wants to talk to Miles. Locke doesn’t want to let that happen but Claire makes a pretty good case that she might get more answers out of him than Locke. I think she’s right. Locke takes Ben dinner and Ben offers Locke a deal. If Locke lets him live in a house he won’t leave or run away and he’ll tell Locke who is behind everyone on the boat.

Flashback: We go to that scene where the plane is breaking apart and Ben is looking up at the sky and sending people off to go find out who the survivors are. He sends Goodwin off to the tail section. This is totally some way to get Goodwin away from Juliet. This episode is really easy to guess things about.

In real time Jack and Juliet find Kate in the bushes. Juliet says she’ll go get some water. Kate tells Juliet that she ran into Daniel and Charlotte and they had gas masks. Jack gets that crazy look in his eye and then starts calling for Juliet. She’s gone out on her own to find Daniel and Charlotte.

Locke takes Ben upstairs and tells him the combination to a safe hidden behind a painting. Inside there is a tape marked Red Sox. Ben says he “taped over the game.” Ben is so sly sometimes. There has to be some sort of thing with the Red Sox going on. Remember when Ben keeps saying to Keanu Nolte (Frank) that he can’t believe the Red Sox won the World Series? Anyway the tape contains a video of Charles Widmore and a goon killing one of Ben’s men who unfortunately was discovered. Apparently Charles is the man behind who hired the people on the freighter. Ben makes a really good point involving mold in the shape of the Virgin Mary. Ben says to Locke, “If 5,000 people come to see mold how many people will come to see you?” Then Locke gives Ben the Widmore file and tells him that Widmore is going to exploit the island. Locke asks Ben who his man on the boat is and Locke says, “You’d better sit down for this.” It is totally Michael. I know it … I’m 90% sure at this point.

Ok the rest of the episode is pretty boring and all but this is what happens in a nutshell. Ben makes Juliet dinner and he is really creepy. Juliet almost stops Daniel and Charlotte from the releasing the gas but she fails. It turns out they were really trying to make the gas inert so Ben couldn’t use the gas himself. That was a little unexpected. Goodwin is killed and instead of just telling Juliet, Ben takes her out to show her his impaled corpse. Mmmmmmmm. Ben screams at her, "How could you possibly not understand that you're mine?” Juliet and Jack finally kiss. Ben comes hopping out of Locke’s cabin with sheets or something and heads into another cabin. Hurley and Sawyer can’t figure out why but Ben shouts out, “See you guys at dinner.” Ha!

• Why was Ben concerned about whether the rabbit Locke served him had a number on it?
• I wonder who Juliet reminds Ben of. It has to be his mom or Annie right?
• Ben is funny in a really creepy way. I think his crush on Juliet is a little pathetic. He just looked like a pissed off kid who didn’t get his way when he yelled at Juliet that she was his. Ben is smart and all but he’s totally like a teenager in so many ways.
• I don’t know how Ben’s man on the boat could be anyone but Michael. Why would Michael work for Ben unless Ben had something Michael wanted? I wonder if Ben snagged Walt again.
• Penny couldn’t know her dad hired the freighter right? I suspect she doesn’t know a lot of things her father does. Trying to buy off Desmond comes to mind.
• They talk about “the list” a bit and I really wonder what the list exists for and what qualifies you to be on “the list.” If you remember “the list” is what the Others use to pick people from the survivors to join them.
• Widmore owns a pharmaceutical company. The island seems to have some sort of healing powers. Does Widmore really want to exploit the island like Ben says? That seems too easy.

A new approach.

Lost – The Constant
Sayid and Desmond run into turbulence on their way to the freighter, causing Desmond to suffer unusual side effects.

I’m taking a new approach to this this week. I’m sick of writing a detailed recap every week because I figure if you’re watching the show you don’t need me to retell what happened for you. They’re also super tedious to write and I’m sure you can find a detailed recap on ABC.com or somewhere else. This week was far too detailed to write out EVERYTHING that happened so I’m just going to react to it because it was nothing short of amazing and doesn’t deserve any trite commentary I throw in every once in a while. I’ve believed for a while that Desmond may be the key to unlocking everything that is going on with the island and this episode just cements that more and more in my mind.

Don’t be fooled. I’m not so sure this was a time travel episode. It may have been but I think something else is going on. There is a lot of speculation out there about who Daniel Faraday actually is. One of the most popular rumors is that he is the great-grandson of the famous British physicist Michael Faraday. Michael Faraday did a lot of studies on electromagnetism and discovered that magnetism could affect rays of light. If you remember in the first episode of this season, Daniel remarked that light didn’t seem to work the same on the island. I’m inclined to believe that there is sort of an electromagnetic field around the island that affects everything within its sphere of influence whether that be light, sound, or time and space. I know this episode seems like it was about time travel but I don’t think it was. I think that Desmond is jumping between real time and imaginary time. Imaginary time is a theory popularized by Steven Hawking. “Imaginary time is a way of looking at the time dimension as if it were a dimension of space: you can move forward and backward along imaginary time, just like you can move right and left in space.” After seeing a screen cap of Daniel’s notebook I’m fairly certain that’s exactly what is going on here.

A really interesting piece of Desmond’s story was during one of his flashbacks to 1996 when he came into the auction that Penny’s dad Charles Widmore is at. He was bidding on the first mate’s ledger from the Black Rock and the seller’s name was Tobard Hanso. This caught me right away because the captain of the Black Rock was Magnus Hanso. Alvar Hanso founded the Hanso Foundation which created the DHARMA Initiative. Why would Charles Widmore be interested in a ledger that possible talked about the island back in 1996? Maybe that is how Penny knows about the island and perhaps why Charles got Desmond into that sailing competition that landed him on the island. Ok I’ll be honest, anything involving the former Caleb Nichol gets me in a tizzy. He has got to be one of the best “son of a bitch” actors out there. No matter what he does you want to poke him in the eye and call him a jerk.

This episode really didn’t get into details about anyone other than Desmond so it doesn’t leave a lot of questions. It was mostly explaining how things on the island work. I have a sneaking suspicion that the whole card game thing Daniel and Charlotte were doing in the previous episode had something to do with Daniel skipping in and out of different times himself. Remember one of the first times we see Daniel he is crying while watching a camera swim around the fake wreckage of Flight 815 and he doesn’t know why he’s upset. Daniel had been exposed to a lot of radiation in his lab at Oxford, and Desmond had been exposed to a lot of electromagnetism while down in the hatch. Daniel says that those are factors that can trip the symptoms that Desmond exhibits when he leaves the island.

I want to make a special note to point out the last part of the episode. Who is their right mind didn’t get a little teary when Sayid finally fixed the phone and Desmond was finally able to talk to Penny. He called her eight years later on the day he said he would. She’s spent three years looking for him and she finally gets to talk to him and know for sure that he is alive. I know "long-lost lover" tales are told way too much in the movies but I thought this was handled very delicately and I never felt that I was being milked for tears. I was generally happy that Desmond and Penny FINALLY got to have some contact because obviously they dearly love each other no matter what occurred between them in the past.

This episode only left me with two questions. I wonder who the “friend” on the boat is that left the door open for Desmond, Sayid, and Minkowski to get to the communication deck is; and I wonder why Desmond Hume is Daniel Faraday’s constant. I have a feeling that Daniel is going to start making a lot more sense and seem a lot less absent-minded.

Well, that’s all for this week. I’ll probably go back to the old format for the next episode but I thought this episode was so different I wanted to address it in a different manner.

No use having rules, if there is no punishment for breaking them.

Lost – Eggtown
Kate’s need to get information from the hostage could jeopardize her standing with both Locke and Sawyer.

We start out with Locke making breakfast for Ben. He uses the last two eggs. I still haven’t seen a chicken on the island but that’s ok. Locke takes the breakfast down to the purple and yellow version of Ben. I’m sort of wondering how much more punishment Ben can take. The guy just won’t shut up and he has to antagonize someone whenever he decides to open his mouth. Mental note: if I ever turn out like Ben, remember not to antagonize two ripped guys like Jack and Sawyer because even if I wasn’t tied up it wouldn’t be a fair fight. At this point Ben is lucky he isn’t missing teeth. Anyway, Ben antagonizes Locke and tells him he’s more lost than he ever was. If Locke would pistol whip Ben we might have something good going on but Locke just shuts the door and throws Ben’s food around. Ben gets that creepy look on his face because he knows he’s getting to Locke.

Flash Forward: Kate’s going to court. Well that screws my theory about her not being a member of the Oceanic 6. I also take back what I said about Kate looking better dirty earlier this season. Yeah, I’m wrong, because wow. Kate pleads not guilty for about 23 different charges but most glaringly murder in the first. If you remember that’s because she blew her father up for beating her mom. Remember that before you ever touch a woman boys. They won’t let Kate go on bail and she is remanded into custody.

We’re back on the island. Sun and Jin get a quick little segment. I think this is the most they’ve said all season and it basically consists of Jin wanting to go to America and Sun wanting to raise their baby in Korea. I suppose she misses the life of her husband being a thug enforcer for her Korean mobster dad. Jack walks out of the trees and introduces Daniel and Charlotte to the group. Blah blah blah, Kate has decided to stay with Locke. Obviously she has a reason and that’s because she wants to talk to Miles. Locke won’t tell her where he is so she finds Hurley bringing food to Miles and tricks himinto telling her where Miles is locked up. Kate wants to know if Miles knows who she is (a wanted murderer). Miles won’t answer but promises to tell her anything she wants to know if she gets him one minute with “Him.” I’m just going out on a limb here and saying he means Ben.

Flash Forward: Kate’s in jail and her lawyer wants her to take a deal. The lawyer wants to turn the case into a trial about her character rather than a trial about whether she blew her father up or not. The lawyer wants to bring in Kate’s son to prove her character, but she won’t allow it. Ummm…Earth to Brent. When Sawyer and Kate got it on did they make a mini-them? Back on the island Sun wants to know where Sayid is and why Kate stayed with Locke. Now we’re with Kate and Claire. Claire wants Kate to pick up Aaron because he’s crying but Kate doesn’t know how to hold a baby. Ok .wait a minute. Duh! Could they have made that more obvious? Here’s my prediction for the night: Kate’s "son" is Aaron.

Flash Forward: Kate’s on trial and her lawyer calls Jack to the stand to testify on her behalf. Kate doesn’t look too happy about it and the lawyer apologizes to her because he had to do it. The DA doesn’t want Jack to testify, but the judge allows it. Kate’s lawyer questions Jack about how he met Kate and Jack says flight 815 crashed in the water. Only eight people survived the crash, and Kate nursed them all back to health. Wow that’s a bombshell right there. So only six made it back to civilization out of eight living people according to liar Jack. Kate looks really uncomfortable and stands up and tells Jack to stop. The DA cross-examines Jack and ask if he loves the defendant. Jack stares at Kate and says, “Not anymore.”

Back on the island Kate uses Sawyer to help her break into Locke’s house so she can let Miles have his minute with Ben. Sawyer shows up on Locke’s doorstep wanting to play backgammon, and Locke accepts. Locke wants to know if Sawyer thinks Locke knows what he’s doing as far as leading everyone. Sawyer tells Locke that Kate wants to break Ben out and he and Locke go running down to find out why Miles wants a minute alone with Ben. Meanwhile Kate has already broke Miles out and is breaking into Ben’s cell. Once Miles is in contact with Ben he says, “I won’t tell ‘him’ where you are if you get me 3.2 million dollars.” OK, who is “him” and why does Miles want 3.2 million and not 4 million dollars? I’ll bet “him” is Abbadon the lawyer, who was after Hurley in the first episode. I have no idea why Miles wants to extort only 3.2 million though.

Miles knows Ben has or can get the money so obviously Ben has connections off the island. Kate pulls Miles out of the room and asks what Miles knows about her. Miles knows everything. He knows all the nasty little details about everyone on Oceanic Flight 815. Later, Locke comes to Kate and Claire’s house and wants to know what Miles and Ben spoke to each other about. Kate tells him and then Locke tells her to be gone by morning. Serves Kate right!

Flash Forward: Kate’s mom comes to her in court. She is the prosecution’s star witness because Kate confessed to her mom. Kate’s mom is really sick, and says she has lived four years after the doctors gave her six months to live and that she doesn’t want to fight with her daughter anymore. She agrees not to testify if Kate lets her see her grandson. Kate says no. The girl really seems to have a lot of animosity towards her mom. I guess it makes sense since her mom kept trying to turn her in after she wacked her dad.

On the island Kate shows up at Sawyer’s door. She tells him that Locke wants her to go. I can tell they’re about to have some sexy time and guess what…they do. Back on the beach with Jack’s crew, Daniel and Charlotte are playing some weird card game where Daniel tells Charlotte which cards are on the table while they’re flipped upside down. He gets two out of three, and why does she say "This is progress"? Jack has been trying to call the boat all episode and can’t get an answer. Charlotte tells him there is another channel for emergencies only. She calls it for Jack and Regina answers. Jack wants to know what happened to Sayid and Desmond. If you recall they got on the helicopter with Frank, the Keanu-Nolte hybrid, and flew off to the boat the day before. Regina says nobody ever made it to the boat.

Locke walks into the boathouse where Miles is locked up and he looks pissed. He sticks a grenade in Miles' mouth and pulls the pin. “Enjoy your breakfast,” says Locke. Boo yeah! John Locke is officially a badass. If Miles lets that thing go he gets splattered on the walls of that boat house. That might have saved an otherwise mild episode for me! Apparently Kate and Sawyer didn’t do the nasty the night before because Sawyer is a bit randy in the morning. Sawyer asks Kate if she still thinks she’s prego and she says no. Sawyer is real happy because he, like most men, doesn’t think having a child together would have been a party. Kate looks upset and says she’s going to the beach so Sawyer lets her have it. He basically says she’ll go to the beach until she gets mad at Jack, then come running back to him. That gets him slapped but he’s dead on.

Flash Forward: Kate’s mom won’t testify so Kate gets a plea bargain. She agrees to serve ten years probation and never leave the state. If I knew it was that easy to get out of approximately 47 charges I would do the same thing. When she walks out to get into a cab Jack is waiting for her. He tells her he didn’t mean his testimony. I assume he’s talking about the not loving her part. Kate wants Jack to follow her for a visit. He won’t do it and Kate says that there will be no relationship between the two of them until he wants to see the baby. Kate goes to her giant nice house where she has a nanny. I guess she got a nice settlement from Oceanic. She heads upstairs to see her baby and its name is Aaron! I was right, I was right!

• The obvious questions that arise out are who are the 8 that originally survived the crash and why are they all sticking with this phony story? Did Claire die or did she just make Kate take Aaron off the island while she stayed behind?
• Why does Jack not want to see Aaron? Did he find out that he’s technically Aaron’s uncle since Christian is Claire’s dad, or did he have something to do with Claire either not being able to get off the island or dying? I suppose if she died she couldn’t get off the island but hopefully you get my point.
• I think Claire is dead. Aaron didn’t seem to know Kate wasn’t his “mommy.”
• I think, since Jack’s testimony said Kate was the hero of the crash, Locke isn't one of the Oceanic 6.
• If Kate’s son Aaron is really Claire’s son Aaron I think you would have to assume that he’s one of the Oceanic 6. So then we only need to know one more.
• The part when Sun told Jin she wanted to raise HER baby in Korea and Jin said “you mean OUR baby.” I’m just thinking here. Sun conceived on the island, this we know. We also know Jin was sterile. Perhaps the island could have cured him but remember before how Sun and Michael had a weird moment once when they almost kissed in one of those mobisodes? I wonder…
• When Locke shoved that grenade in Miles’ mouth and told him, "No use having rules, if there is no punishment for breaking them." That was freaking awesome!
• I wonder why the lawyer was so emphatic that Kate couldn’t leave the state?

When Hurley says "dude" it makes me laugh almost every time.

Lost – The Economist
Locke’s hostage could be the key to getting off the island, so Sayid and Kate search for their fellow castaway in an attempt to negotiate a peaceful deal.

This episode starts with Sayid praying. I hate to tell you Sayid, you might as well quit because if there is a god you’re going to burn in hell for what you’ve done. Sayid looks at Naomi and takes off her bracelet, which says “N: I’ll always be with you, R.G.” Sayid decides he really wants to go to the boat and get off the island. So much so he’s willing to get into a helicopter piloted by Frank. From here on out I will refer to Frank as Keanu Nolte. I don’t know what Sayid is thinking but I’d rather eat mangoes and bananas for the rest of my life rather than get into a helicopter piloted by that guy. Keanu Nolte tells Sayid that he’ll take him off the island if he can get Charlotte back from Locke’s crew. Sayid promises he can make that happen. Sayid, Miles, and Kate strike off into the jungle to go looking for Charlotte and all is well.

Flash forward and it’s Sayid playing golf. An Italian guy drives up on a golf cart and bets he can make a better shot than Sayid. At that point I knew it wasn’t going to end well for this guy. They chat a bit and then Sayid tells the guy where he got his money from -- which was the Oceanic 815 settlement -- calls the man Avelino, whips out a pistol, and makes quick work of him. Silly Italians should know never to make a bet with a pissed-off Iraqi torturer. This Avelino fellow really got uncomfortable when Sayid mentioned he was one of the Oceanic 6. He was probably some sort of executive at Oceanic or involved in Dharma. We get another flash and Sayid is in a coffee shop in Berlin “introducing” himself to an attractive woman named Elsa. Sayid is quite the smooth talker when he wants to be. He asks her out to dinner and she says yes, but then once she leaves Sayid makes a phone call to his “employer” and says he has made contact.

We get a quick cut to Locke’s crew looking for Jacob’s cabin. Locke knows that they are where it should be, but it’s obviously disappeared. Maybe Hurley was right when he said it was another direction. Ben has this knowing, giddy look on his face but he’s not answering any questions because he knows Locke looks like an idiot in front of his whole crew. I love it when Locke is about a hair away from completely losing it. He gets this wild-eyed, crazy look. I’m loosely stealing this from Bill Simmons but it’s accurate. He looks just like Jonathan Papelbon when he got the final batter out in the 2007 World Series. He threw his mitt as high as he could and looked like a wild-eyed, piss-drunk kid from Boston screaming at some poor bastard to come at him and fight. Locke’s “I’m going crazy” look is a lot like that.

Jack’s crew is just hanging out by the plane. Sayid and Miles are getting ready to go after Charlotte. Jack convinces Kate to go along with Sayid and Miles. The three of them go trudging off into the forest. Miles is really starting to make me mad. He’s angry all the time and doesn’t answer any questions. It’s completely frustrating at times and sometimes I really enjoy it. I still think he’s the best candidate for doing something stupid that’s going to get himself or someone else killed because he refuses to answer to reason. I don’t buy anything he says about not caring about the other members of his boat crew either. The three finally get to the Others' barracks and find Hurley tied up in a closet. He says that Locke’s crew tied him up because he was starting to believe they should be trying to get off the island.

Hurley tells them everyone went to Ben’s house, so they all head that direction to see if there are any clues telling them where Locke’s crew went. They start poking around and Sayid finds a secret door behind a bookcase. Behind the door is a room that looks like a captain’s quarters on a submarine. There are some suits hanging on the walls, and a desk. When Sayid opens some drawers on the desk he finds cash from different countries and what looks to be about 40 passports from various countries, all belonging to Ben. I really wonder what Ben really is. Meanwhile Kate is poking around Ben’s room when Sawyer walks in and shushes her. Too bad Sayid…they got the drop on you. Hurley set you up sucka!

While all of this was going on Daniel decided to do a little experiment. He called the boat and had them shoot a missile at a beacon on the island. Regina counts down the time until the missile lands on the island. Guess what? The missile doesn’t show. A little bit later, crazy Daniel looks up and there is a missile headed for him. Once the missile smashes into the ground Daniel jumps on it like a meth addict in a meth house. He opens up the payload and pulls out a clock. Bingo bango bongo I was right. The time is 31 minutes off, meaning that time works differently on the island.

Flash forward and we have assassin Sayid in bed with Elsa. She tells him she loves him but she doesn’t think he’s opened up to her. He’s just about to when her beeper goes off. This is the employer that Sayid is supposed to get at. Sayid finds out where he’s staying and decides to tell Elsa what he is and that she needs to leave so she isn’t asked any questions about his death. Obviously she freaks out a bit, and she runs to the bathroom to wash her face and cry. I get the feeling Sayid may actually care about her. Just when I feel bad for her, though, she comes out and shoots Sayid in the shoulder. So she wasn’t quite who she said she was either. Elsa calls her employer, the “economist,” and says she’ll bring Sayid in. But, when she comes out of the bathroom Sayid puts two rounds in her. She slams up against the wall and smears blood all the way down. Too bad, she seemed smart.

Sayid comes back with Charlotte sans Miles. This doesn’t make Keanu Nolte mad so he agrees to take Desmond, Sayid, and Naomi’s body back to the boat. Desmond really wants to know why they had a picture of his girlfriend Penny but Keanu Nolte is less than forthcoming with that information. I can’t believe they actually took off and are flying off the island. We get another flash forward and it’s wounded Sayid walking into a veterinarian’s office. He’s obviously here to meet with his employer and get that bullet wound taken care of. He walks into the operating room and a voice tells him to sit. I could tell it was Ben’s voice the second I heard it, but it was still a bit of a shock when it actually turned out to be Ben.

• It will be interesting to find out how much time has actually passed off the island as opposed to on. I thought I heard Jack say it was hard for him to believe he hadn’t seen a baseball game in 100 days.
• Finally Sawyer made his point to Kate about why he stayed. He’s totally right. She doesn’t have anything but handcuffs waiting for her when she gets back so why is she trying so hard to get off the island. It makes sense she decided to stay with that crew.
• Ben and Sayid are pissed about something. I know Sayid isn’t above killing but it really seemed like he was trying to get away from that part of his life. Someone must have really crossed him to make him go on a killing spree for Ben.
• It was kind of cool when Ben said he was glad people knew they were after them. I also liked it when Ben gave Sayid crap for thinking with his heart instead of his gun.
• So we know Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid are off the island. I doubt Ben was one of the Oceanic 6 because nobody knew he was in Berlin [and he wasn't on the Oceanic flight -- ed note]. Chew on this one…what if Kate isn’t one of the Oceanic 6 either? Just because she survived a plane crash doesn’t mean she's off the hook for blowing up her dad. What if nobody knows she’s off the island either?

Apologies for the lateness, work is hell.

Lost – Confirmed Dead
The survivors begin to question the intentions of their supposed rescuers when four strangers arrive on the island. [Including Jeremy Davies, yum-Ed. note]

The episode starts with a nice underwater shot of a couple of robots being controlled by two people who are obviously looking for pirate’s gold. I haven’t seen an underwater scene this stunning and well acted since Seaquest went off the air (that covers the Roy Schneider reference for the evening…RIP). The voices in that shot sounded like those ridiculous commercials that the NBA is doing now where the player reads some script a PR guy wrote about caring and giving back to his community. Dan, the parachuting guy, is now watching the video of the airplane underwater and he’s crying and doesn’t know why. So they’re either trying to show me that Dan is unstable or that he cares that much about a bunch of people he’s never met. Either way we now know that someone went to a pretty spectacular effort to make sure it looked like the survivors of Oceanic 815 look dead to the outside world. They even put the plane in a part of the ocean that is too deep to send any submarines for recovery efforts.

So Dan has just parachuted onto the island and says he’s there to rescue everyone. I suppose I should mention that he didn’t parachute in willingly so much as he was thrown out of a distressed helicopter. He has conveniently lost his backpack that contains his satellite phone. He’s also acting like a tweaker and that’s really not helping with his whole credibility thing. We’re finally getting to the other group who took off with Locke. Locke says that he’s taking the group to Jacob’s cabin and Hurley asks why they’re heading in the direction they’re going because Jacob’s cabin is the other direction. Apparently Hurley said something Ben and Locke wants to know more about because their heads almost twisted off they turned so fast to look at him. Locke says he’s taking orders from Walt now. Sawyer wants to know where Locke saw Walt and Locke talks about being shot by Ben. Since Locke’s dad stole that kidney from him the bullet passed clean through. In my head I’m thinking, “just a flesh wound.” Sawyer does have a valid point in wanting to know why Locke didn’t ask more follow up questions -- like why Walt didn’t want Naomi to radio her friends -- but of course Locke had that whole "getting shot" thing to hide behind.

Sayid and Juliet have decided that Ben is either telling the truth or lying about the people coming to the island. So they strike off to find some answers. Jack, Kate, and Dan find some gas masks from the helicopter and Dan says the rescue really isn’t their primary objective. My only reason is why in the hell are Kate and Jack following this tweaker Dan?!? They find another parachutist whose name is Miles. Miles isn’t very friendly and he turns out to be a ghost whisperer/con man with a heart. He wants to find Naomi’s body so he can have a nice conversation with her spirit. After Miles communes with Naomi’s spirit he decides that Kate and Jack didn’t have anything to do with her death. Sayid and Juliet show up to rescue Jack and Kate. Sayid finds out Dan is a physicist and Miles lies about his profession. That’s probably a good thing.

We have another flashback where Charlotte is introduced. She’s in the desert at an archaeological dig where they’ve found a polar bear skeleton. She digs around a bit and finds a Dharma collar in the sand. I don’t even want to know why there was a polar bear in the desert with a Dharma collar. Ok, I lied, I do.

Back on the island Locke’s crew finds Charlotte. When her phone starts beeping Locke attaches it to Vincent the dog’s collar and sends him running off towards Jack’s group. Another flashback and we meet a guy who looks like an old Nick Nolte playing Keanu Reeves in a surfing cop movie. His name is Frank and it turns out he was supposed to be the pilot for Oceanic 815 but he was too drunk to fly that day. He sees some of the footage of the crashed flight 815 underwater and calls the NTSB to tell them the pilot for the crashed plane isn’t the pilot who was flying 815. The pilot who was flying 815 that day was named Seth Norris and he always wears his wedding ring. The bloated dummy corpse in the plane was clearly not wearing anything on its finger. When he calls the NTSB to tell them all of this they sound like they want to know more from him. Not in a good way, but more in a “you know too much and we’re going to kill you” way.

Back to Locke’s crew. Frank has shot a flare and Charlotte is pissed Locke won’t let her go find him. Ben steals Karl’s gun and drills Charlotte a couple of times. Fortunately or unfortunately Charlotte was wearing a bulletproof vest and doesn’t die. Sawyer wants to kill Ben immediately and Locke seems willing to do it but he asks Ben what the smoke monster is before he puts a cap in his head. Ben is turning out to be one of my favorite characters. To save himself he spouts off Charlotte’s name, profession, and history. Ben knows all of this because he’s got a man on the boat and the reason these people have come is for him. Touché Mr. Linus, touché. This makes Locke reconsider blowing Ben’s brains all over the island.

Jack’s crew is hanging out around the helicopter that the drunk Nick Nolte/Keanu Reeves human-animal hybrid miraculously landed and it is in flyable condition. Miles tries to talk to a guy on the boat named Minkowski who is unavailable to talk. I wonder if this is supposed to be Abaddon’s real name. He’s the lawyer who tries to get Hurley to leave his insane asylum. Juliet is patching up Frank’s head and he figures out she wasn’t on the flight manifest. This really sets Miles off and he demands to know where “he” is. That man in question is their primary objective, Benjamin Linus.

• I really like Ben. I can’t help it. At some point I think he and Locke are going to have a very serious disagreement and reenact the fight scene at the end of Karate Kid II. The only difference is I think this would be more like if Sato and Miyagi had finally had the chance to battle to the death instead of kissing and making up.
• I like the introduction of the new characters. I’m still undecided on whether or not they know very much about why they’re there. Naomi knew more but even she didn’t expect there to be actual survivors from 815 on the island. Miles is unstable and I’m willing to bet he’s going to do the most stupid stuff that will get everyone killed.
• Dan’s comment on the light on the island not scattering properly has me thinking. I know the writers are trying to get something across with this but I’m not sure what it is. Maybe they really are in some sort of magnetic snow globe that hides the island.
• The boat people brought gas masks and hazmat suits. Naomi doesn’t think anyone from 815 is alive. At least a few of the boat crew have pretty obvious connections with flight 815. If they’re there to get Ben would they gas the whole island the way Ben did when he purged the island the first time?
• Charlotte knew exactly where to look for that Dharma initiative collar on the polar bear. Has she been hunting for the island for a while?
• I’m starting to think that time on the island may be different than time everywhere else.

OMG, holy crap, I think I'm going to pee my pants.

Lost – The Beginning of the End
As the fourth season begins, the castaways await rescue by the people with whom they have made contact, but are troubled by Charlie's final warning and break into camps led by Jack and Locke.
Photo © ABC.

“OMG, holy crap, I think I’m going to pee my pants.” This was my train of thought in the fifteen minutes leading up to eight o’ clock PM. This feeling was shortly followed by near-homicidal thoughts for those at ABC who billed this as the two-hour season premiere of Lost. If I had known that one of those hours would be a review of the last three seasons I would have taken a little something to calm my nerves. I managed to tune out by catching up on all the Unfitney drama going on right now.

Finally nine o’ clock rolled around and here we are starting up season four. I have never watched Lost while it aired on TV. With the cliffhangers they tend to leave you with, I have always preferred to watch it on DVD. If you missed the end of Season 3 it really isn’t too late to get caught up, but here’s a short summary that doesn’t do it justice. The crew captures Ben, the leader of the “others,” a parachutist named Naomi drops in and says she’s from a boat hired by Desmond’s GF Penny, Charlie drowns while blowing up a radio jammer and hears Penny say she didn’t hire a boat, Naomi the parachutist gets knifed in the back by Locke because somehow he knows Naomi isn’t who she says she is. In the end Jack meets with Kate at an airport and we find out all the flashbacks that were happening were really flash-forwards, creating the biggest mindfuck I’ve had in a while and completely changing the direction of the show. Was that quick enough for you?

• So the season starts out with Hurley being arrested after a car chase and shouting that he’s one of the “Oceanic six.” OK, so apparently six people get off the island. Now I’m sure the next three episodes are going to be a bunch of confusing flash-forwards about who the six people are.
• That scene where Hurley finds Jacob’s cabin and looks inside and sees the guy sitting in the chair and then the eyeball shoots into the frame. The guy sitting in the chair was totally Christian, Jack’s dad. WTF!?!?! Remember in season three when Jack finds the coffin and it’s empty. This also made me think about something I’d almost forgotten about. Remember in "Through the Looking Glass" when Jack is freaking out trying to get his Oxycontin and tells the doctor to go get his dad, he’s probably drunker than he is? That turned out to be a flash-forward and not a flashback.
• Why does that cop know Ana Lucia and why did Hurley lie about knowing her?
• Charlie tells Hurley he needs to go back and help “them.” The creepy lawyer for Oceanic who probably really wasn’t a lawyer for Oceanic asks Hurley, “Are they still alive?” That really sets Hurley off. When Jack comes to see Hurley at the institution Hurley says that he thinks they should go back. Jack also says something about growing a beard and that means the flash-forwards from last season’s premiere happen later.
• Evangeline Lilly is way hotter when she’s all dirty and sweaty. She still looks nice when she’s all cleaned up but I’d rather have dirty and sweaty Kate any day!
• I really wonder who the six are. Kate, Hurley, and Jack are the only three I know of for sure. One could have been Jack’s dad if that flash-forward from the finale didn’t just show Jack in some sort of manic state. I am really wondering who was in the coffin. I think it has to be either Sawyer or Locke. Both of them were loners and I could see everyone skipping the funeral except for Jack. Jack is too good inside and no matter how much he thinks he hates someone he can’t just let them go.
• Creepy Ben is totally creeping me out. He seems utterly terrified of what will happen when the people that are coming to “rescue” everyone arrive. I think he may be right on this one, and he knows something no one else does. He has the line of the night though. When Locke is getting everyone to leave with him Ben says, “Jack, with your permission I’d like to go with John.” Best.line.ever.
• If only six of them are left what did they tell everyone when they got back? Obviously they didn’t tell the truth about the polar bears, pirate ships, and creepy Ben.
• Creepy Ben’s voice reminds me of the Emperor in Return of the Jedi. “You will die…”

-- by Hans Blix