March 30, 2010

What did you think of 'The Package?'

Sun and Jin.

What do you think?

I'm reminding of what Jacob saying that it only ends once and everything else is just progress.

What progress do you think Lost is making toward resolving story lines before it all ends?

By the way, if you hadn't heard, the final episode will be called "The End."

Tonight on LOST: 'The Package'


Tonight on Lost, "The Package" is a Sun/Jin-centric episode. But we'll see some other old, familiar faces too.
ABC's promo, which is marginally more informative than last week's, says:
Sun and Jin desperately continue their search for one another, and Locke confronts his enemy.
Since UnLocke's biggest enemy, Jacob, is now dead (though still hanging with Hugo in his very special, Obi-Wan Kenobi way), this means UnLocke must be confronting his other enemy, former Others leader Charles Widmore, who has arrived on neighboring Hydra Island, via submarine. Widmore is, as the enhanced version of "Recon" reminded us, "a very dangerous man," even if he is not a man who can turn into murderous black smoke. And just exactly what or whom has Widmore got locked up aboard that sub of his, anyway? Maybe his son-in-law Desmond, who's been MIA since S6's premiere ep, "LA X"? O Brother Des, where art thou?
That enhanced version of "Recon" also reminded us that in the S5 finale "The Incident," UnLocke told Richard (who at the time still thought this was John Locke, Jacob's anointed leader) that he would have to "deal with" the Ajira 316 survivors. In the "Recon" scene showing the Ajira massacre victims on Hydra, the subtitles noted that we don't know what happened to them.
But we can guess, can't we? We know who carried out another recent mass killing, at the Temple.
My personal belief is that this is why Richard has been so distraught and suicidal: not just because because he temporarily lost faith in Jacob, but because he has realized that he was complicit in those Ajira murders, which he had believed he carried out at Jacob's behest. Now he knows that he was unwittingly the instrument of UnLocke, a.k.a. the MiB or Smokey. What's more, Richard must be wondering if the previous mass killings we know he participated in -- the US Army brigade in 1954, and the Dharma purge in 1992 --- were not also instigated by MiB, masquerading as Jacob. No wonder Richard has believed he was in hell, or at least destined to go there.
Speaking of destinies: Are Sun and Jin destined to reunite tonight? Frankly, I would not bet on it happening -- not in the Island timeline, anyway. Though of course, we should see the Kwons together in the 2004 Sideways World.
But wait: Are the Kwons even married in that parallel universe? I'm not convinced that they are.
In the Season 6 premiere ep, "LA X," it was deliberately made difficult for viewers to see if either Sun or Jin happened to be wearing a wedding ring. In the few shots where their left hands were briefly in the frame, no rings were spotted -- not by me, at least. And at the LAX Customs desk where Jin was questioned about the illicit cash he was carrying, the female Customs agent addressed Sun by her maiden name, as "Ms. Paik." Hmmmm.
On the other hand, Jin still treated Sun in the same abrupt, domineering way that he did in the early days of the original timeline -- including that whole "button up your sweater" thing. Would he be that overbearing to his boss's daughter if they weren't married?
Maybe yes -- say, if Jin were Sun's bodyguard, anxious for her not to attract male attention. Or maybe yes, if the Kwons were already divorced and simply traveling together for some Paik business-related reason.
So: Check back here tonight, as soon as Lost ends, and tell us what you thought of the episode.
Remember, tonight's show again runs a couple of minutes long. It will be immediately followed by a new episode of V, starring Elizabeth Mitchell -- our late, beloved Juliet.

March 23, 2010

What did you think of 'Ab Aeterno?'


What do you think about the episode? What about Richard's story?

Did the answers satisfy you?

Where does the show go from here?

Has your opinion of Jacob and The Man in Black changed?

Tonight on LOST: 'Ab Aeterno'


The title of tonight's episode of Lost, "Ab Aeterno," is Latin ("Gotta learn Latin! Language of the enlightened," as Juliet told Sawyer in Season 5), and it means, more or less, "since the beginning of time."

Maybe we'll get a slightly different translation of the phrase from the man of the hour. This is a Richard-centric ep, and Lost fans are very excited, because "Ab Aeterno" promises to be mythology-heavy and full of disclosures about the Island, the good ship Black Rock, and the mysterious Mr. Alpert himself.


ABC's official promo is, like all its promos this season, impossibly vague: "Richard Alpert faces a difficult decision." Lost fansites are rife with chatter about expecting some good old-fashioned flashbacks, maybe even featuring Jacob and the Man in Black, instead of a flash-sideways this week.


That flashback possibility seems quite likely, if only because this is Richard we're talking about, and he's got tons of history we don't know yet -- thanks to being apparently ageless, which he says is Jacob's double-edged "gift." Also, actor Nestor Carbonell, who plays Richard, has been hinting that this episode will carry lots of juicy reveals.

UPDATE: Be sure to set your DVR or VCR to run past the usual hour, because Lost's "Ab Aeterno" episode will run six minutes longer!

March 18, 2010

What is the island?


Word on the street, er... the blogs, is that we'll find out the answer in the next episode, which gives us Richard's backstory.

STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT SMALL HINTS TO HELP YOU GUESS.

It's a four letter word that doesn't have the letters A or E. It does have an O.

One suggestion that's been out there quite a bit is that the island is a door.

My only other guess is that it's a port as in a portal.

Any other thoughts?

March 16, 2010

What did you think of 'Recon?"


Post your thoughts on 'Recon' in comments.

What did you think of Sideways Sawyer compared to Island Sawyer?

Tonight on LOST: 'Recon'


It's been a long, long three weeks since "the Substitute," the episode where we last saw Sawyer, but tonight the drought ends.

Previously on Lost, a bitter, angry, grieving James Ford was signing up with Smokey in the cave where all the candidates' names and numbers were scrawled. James himself, you'll remember, was No. 15. UnLocke asked him if he was ready to "get the hell off this Island," and James' response was: "Hell, yes." Thereby making himself Recruit No. 1 in the Man in Black's army.

The official ABC promo line for "Recon" is: "Locke tasks Sawyer with a mission." What kind of a mission? A reconnaissance mission to Camp Jacob, would be our guess.

But "recon" can have more than one meaning. And since we're talking about our favorite con man here, it's entirely possible that Sawyer will recognize just what kind of con man UnLocke is and what kind of evil he represents.
In that case, we're betting Sawyer will become a double agent, just the way his beloved Juliet did when she joined the Losties and pretended to be Ben's mole for the Others.
Meanwhile, we're also going to see what James' life is like in Sideways World. I'm going to go waaay out on a limb here and guess that we're going to see the biggest change yet. That in the parallel reality, maybe James Ford never became Sawyer the con man at all.
In "The Substitute," we found out that alt-Locke and his father, Anthony Cooper, were on good terms -- presumably meaning that alt-Cooper was not the conscienceless criminal who stole his son's kidney and then pushed Locke out an eighth-floor window, leaving him paralyzed. Locke was still in a wheelchair, yes, but apparently Cooper had no connection to whatever accident befell him.
So if Cooper's not the bad guy of that scenario...maybe he wasn't the man who ruined the Fords' lives, either. Maybe young James grew up without the horrible, psyche-scarring loss of his parents and the ambition to become a con man named Sawyer.
The James Ford we saw on Oceanic 815 in "LA X" seemed like a pretty relaxed guy, not like a murderer on the run. It'll be interesting to see what he's like tonight, for sure.


'Lost': The 'Third' World?


Doc Jensen posits that alongside Island World and Sideways World, perhaps there is a World we haven't yet seen.

Thoughts?

March 10, 2010

LOST: 'Dr. Linus' recaps and reax

The redemption of Ben Linus -- who'd a-thunk it? And for once, an episode that answered more questions than it raised. Here's a roundup of today's recaps and reaction to "Dr. Linus"...more to come later, so check back this p.m.

Ryan at Zap2It

Cindy at Television Without Pity

Brian at Lost...and Gone Forever

Kristin at E!Online

UPDATE: Doc Jensen at EW.com.

UPDATE: Jen and Liz at WaPo Lost Central.

AFTERNOON UPDATES: William at TV Guide

Maureen at the ChiTrib

Noel at AV Club

Mike at NYT Lost Watch

AND ONE MORE: Todd at LATimes Show Tracker

March 9, 2010

What did you think of 'Dr. Linus?'


Ben strikes again.

What are your thoughts on Lost's seventh episode?

Post your thoughts in comments.

Tonight on LOST: 'Dr. Linus'



O bliss! O joy! It's time to party with the Artist Formerly Known as Henry Gale. Yes, it's a Ben-centric episode, and those are always extra good.


Tonight's episode of Lost is called "Dr. Linus." Here's the official ABC promo line: "Ben deals with the consequences of an uncovered lie."


The obvious follow-up to that is, "Which lie?" Because with Ben, you know, there are just so darn many lies he tells that we have totally lost track of them. Last we checked, he was up to about 167 fibs, untruths, whoppers and dodges, and that was just in Season 3.
We found out in "The Substitute" that alt-Ben is a teacher of European history at the same L.A.-area high school where alt-John Locke is teaching biology and coaching girls' gym. The only other thing we know about alt-Ben so far is that he is pretty darn snippy about maintaining the coffeemaker in the teachers' lounge. (Woe be unto him who fails to remove the old filter so Ben can make a fresh pot.)
Don't know about you, but we are praying that tonight he has a run-in with science teacher Leslie Arzt, so they can snipe at each other with lines like: "That's Doctor Arzt to you, Benjy!" and "Well, that's Doctor Linus to you, Leslie!" Of course, we have no actual evidence yet that Dr. Arzt even teaches at that school, but wouldn't that be a cool cameo?
On the Island's timeline, we know that Ben last week fled the Temple in terror, after realizing Sayid had gone over to Smokey's side and so had killed both Dogen and Lennon, who were floating lifeless in the Temple's healing pool. This week, we'll probably see more of Ben looking for Ilana and her little band of Jacobites, including Frank, Sun and Miles, who have escaped the Temple via the secret back door, and who presumably will be in the jungle, hiding from UnLocke and his tribe.
With the Temple breached, there are no longer any safe places on the Island that we know of. Will our Losties perhaps retreat to an abandoned Dharma station, there to await the arrival of whoever it is that Jacob predicted is coming to help them battle the Man in Black?


March 8, 2010

LOST connections at the Oscars


Two members of the Lost family won big at the 82nd annual Academy Awards last night.


Lost's resident composer, Michael Giacchino brought home the Oscar for scoring Disney/Pixar's animated instant-classic, UP. His joyous yet poignant waltz, "Married Life," underscored the story of Carl and Ellie's romance at the film's beginning, and it induced heartfelt sniffles in millions of moviegoers.


And actor Fisher Stevens -- who in Lost's Season 4 played George Minkowski, the freighter Kahana's doomed communications officer ("The Constant," "Meet Kevin Johnson") -- won for his documentary feature The Cove, about the secret, wanton slaughter of dolphins in Japan.

March 5, 2010

Video clips for episode 6.07: 'Dr. Linus'



Need a bit of the next episode to make it 'til Tuesday? Check out these clips from next week's Ben-centric episode called "Dr. Linus:"





March 4, 2010

Lost fans, bloggers divide on 'Sundown'


It's been a while since we've seen Lost fans so sharply disagreeing about an episode as they've been doing this week, over the Sayid-centric "Sundown."


Some critics, bloggers and commenters clearly loved the episode's bad-ass action sequences and its dark, ominous depiction of Sayid turning to the Dark Side of the Force. Some didn't like this one so much -- although not the way they hated, let's say, "Stranger in a Strange Land," aka The One About Jack's Tattoos, guest-starring the simply awful Bai Ling. Nor was the ep reviled as much as "Exposé," aka The One With Nikki and Paulo.

Here's a roundup of "Sundown" recaps, with a range of views that are pro, con, and somewhere in between:

March 2, 2010

What did you think of 'Sundown?'


What did you think?

Post your thoughts in comments.

Go!

LOST: episode 6-06, 'Sundown'



Tonight's Lost episode, "Sundown," is summarized by ABC: "Sayid is faced with a difficult decision, and Claire sends a warning to the temple inhabitants." Which seems to indicate it will be Sayid-centric. Which mean Episode 6 breaks the S6 pattern of mirroring Season 1, and it won't be a Sun/Jin-centric episode, as expected. Which, considering the title is "Sundown," is kind of a big tease.

We can probably expect to see more of the Temple and its inhabitants, along with whichever Losties are still there. But with Kate, James, Jack, Hugo, and Jin gone, that just leaves Miles and Sayid. Sun, Frank, Ilana and Ben were heading to the Temple, the last we saw of them.

If the episode does focus on Sayid, what will his Sideways World be like? We know he got to LA with every intention of finding Nadia, his long-lost love. Does he find her? Will his alt-life be better, overall, than his Jacob/Island-affected life has been? (It could hardly be worse.)

We'll see. Come back when the show ends and we'll talk about it here, in the comments.




March 1, 2010

Lost cast, creators give hints about the end

You'll have to check out this link to Watch with Kristin for the scoop.

If you're trying to judge how spoiled you might be if you click: It's not so much what the answers are as what will or won't be answered.

More from Watch with Kristin (Some text is in white, so highlight if you want clues about what the island actually is):


Also, here's Doc Jensen's recap of Lighthouse.