Lindelof, Cuse, Emerson deliver the Top Ten last night on Letterman

Here's a peek that just includes a few of the Top Ten spoilers (not really) for the series finale. One is about Betty White another is about creepy Ben dialogue.

The odds on who is the next candidate ...

What are the odds on who will replace Jacob?

Doc Jensen at Entertainment Weekly made this lists of odds before the tragic deaths of Jin and Sun and the heroic death of Sayid. But it's still interesting to see what he thought about their possibilities as The Candidate, as well as our remaining Losties.

The entire article has more info. But here are the odds, as Doc Jensen sees them:

JACK
You got the sense from “Lighthouse” that Jacob really, really needs Jack to get over his bad self and dial into his Island destiny. The safe money is that said destiny is to spend eternity eating fish, spying on damned souls with magic mirrors, and plotting intricate redemption narratives for Island visitors.
ODDS: 3-1

BEN
It’s a fake-out! Jacob’s master plan all along has been to groom Ben as The Island’s new supreme being—but first, he’s had to break Ben of his pride and purge him of his sin, not to mention protect him from the Man In Black’s assassination plot. Bringing the castaways to The Island accomplishes both tasks. The most flattering theory of bad guy Ben is that knowingly or unknowingly he’s been producing challenges of character designed to prepare the castaways for their final conflict with Smokey. Actually, the total opposite is true. Jacob brought the castaways to The Island to test Ben’s character, intended to shape him into the kind of man worthy of Jacob’s loom-of-fate stool. Also, by deceiving Smokey into thinking Jack et. al. were his candidates, Jacob has been shielding Ben from Smokey — and co-opting Smokey into his plan to refine Ben’s soul.
ODDS: 5-1

SAWYER
Next to Ben, he’s the best yarn-spinner on The Island. He’s a precise judge of character. He’s also extremely well-read; judging from his library, he has a great grasp on universal themes like redemption and damnation, faith and reason. He also has great motivation to stay on The Island, as he killed a guy in Australia and should surely go to jail if he ever got back the civilization. Then again, maybe that sin makes him unqualified for Island divinity.
ODDS: 7-1

SUN
It’s about time The Island was ruled by a woman, don’t you think? She’s got a great name for a god. Also, Sun’s got the will and stamina for long-term redemption projects, as demonstrated by her unflagging search for Jin, who per my guestimations will be allowed to remain on The Island as her consort. They’ll get to bring Ji-Yeon over to The Island, too. I also think they can make the most of Island life. He fishes! She gardens! They know how to keep warm during cold evenings on the beach! Happily ever after on The Island will be like one long honeymoon for them.
ODDS: 9-1

HURLEY
Maybe the guy least interested in the job — which makes him the most dramatically interesting candidate for the job and therefore makes him an irresistible choice. Even though my Sun theory allows for Jin to stay, I suspect that the Jacob job is probably a solo act, and I think being alone would crush Hurley’s soul. The again, he’s got plenty of dead people for company. And really, who wouldn’t want to spend the rest of time hanging out with Ghost Michael?
ODDS: 12-1

SAYID
Zombie.
ODDS: 23-1

What did you think of 'Dr. Linus?'

Ben strikes again.

What are your thoughts on Lost's seventh episode?

Post your thoughts in comments.

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:"

SPOILERS: The 12 Days of Lost-Mas

(This will be updated to add the new spoilers for each day)

At E!Online, Watch with Kristin is celebrating the 12 Days of Lost-Mas.

She gives the following teases about the upcoming season:


Day 11: Six of these things are true:

1. Juliet survives the bomb.
2. Juliet does not survive the bomb.
3. Kate and Sawyer flirt.
4. Kate and Sawyer kiss.
5. Juliet and Sawyer kiss.
6. Jack and Sayid touch lips.
7. There is a scene with Sawyer in the season premiere that will make you cry buckets—assuming you aren't a robot—and (possibly?) make you Skaters happy.

Day 10: Three Losties will be apprehended by the authorities. Separately.

Day 9: These words will be uttered in the first six hours of the show:

1. "Am I alive?"
2. "It turned out she did not want out."
3. "I wanted you to be able to go home."
4. "I was killed by an *** ******."
5. "I was supposed to die."

(The first one is not a female, and is the same person as #5.)

Day 8: Miles, who hears dead people, will carry a message from a dead character. Who could it be?
Day 7: One of the following things is true regarding Ilana and her Ajira posse:

1. They were sent by Charles Widmore to kill Ben.
2. They were sent by the Man in Black (Jacob's nemesis) to find the island's time travel mechanism and destroy it.
3. They were sent to protect Jacob.
4. They were sent to revive John Locke.
5. Ilana is future Sayid in drag.

Day 6: The following statements are both true:

1. One Lostie we've known for a long time (a dark, handsome someone) will die within the first four hours in the first shocking death of the year.
2. Another Lostie we've known and loved since day one of season one will come thisclose to dying—at his own hands—but the good doctor will save him.

Who will die? Who will nearly take his own life?

Day 5: If season six is about Oceanic 815, will we see Desmond again since he wasn't on the plane?

1. According to sources, we will see Desmond again...
2. ...fairly early on in the season.
3. His first appearance will be with one of the Losties, and the scene/encounter is very surprising.
4. You guys are going to love it! (Honestly)

Day 4: Who is the new Big Bad?
He:

• Killed **h*.
• Killed ***o*.
• Is *** **o** *****e*.
• Wants to "g* ****."

Day 3: One of the following is true:

• Sayid dies.
• Sayid kills Jack.

Remember, when we last saw these Losties they were in 1977. Sayid had been shot and Jack was near the site of the bomb that supposedly went kablooey and reset time.

Day 2: One of these is true, the other is false:

• We find out John Locke is related to C*****s *id**re and J*** ***ph*** in a way you would never ever expect—yes, "related" as in by blood!

• Terry O'Quinn does something bat-poop insane involving a character we have known since the very first episode of Lost's first season, then says: "I'm sorry you had to see me like that."

Day One: Which of the following is true?

• Shannon's absence from the beginning of the new season will be explained by a significant change to Shannon and Boone's backstory.

• Sawyer will smooch someone who is either Kate or Juliet and it will happen within the first four hours of the new season.

And oh, what the hey, here's a bonus for today's Lost-mas offering only. I will go ahead and tell you that:

Both of the above are actually true. Merry Lost-Mas, everyone!

LOST's Emerson: S6 eps so far are 'dark and bloody'

In a recent interview with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Lost star Michael Emerson describes the ordeal that is the Emmy Awards, and talks just a little bit about Season 6.

No spoilers from him, of course, because the producers are being more careful than ever about letting out any details about the show's final season. (Not a single scene from the new season is supposed to be used in pre-season promotional clips.)

Six episodes of shooting are in the can, and Emerson says he's "had some vintage Ben stuff already" -- but he can't figure out how the series will end: "It's still so opaque."

What did you think of the finale?

UPDATE: Here's Doc Jensen's review of the episode. It's definitely worth reading.

So, they're all dead? Or did they save themselves? So much to ponder and break down.


Did Jack's plan work?


Will next season mirror season one? Will the plane still crash? Or will they board Ajira and crash later in time?


There's no way they're done with the island. Or that it's done with them. Of that, I'm certain.


And so now that guy in the beginning of the show is Locke or in Locke's body? Or has Locke always been that guy?



Will the hiatus, as Michael Emerson (aka Ben) predicted, make you eat your soul?


What do you think is coming in Season Six? Claire will return. We've already learned that.


Discuss!

Doc Jensen previews the finale

Here's the last Doc Jensen preview of the season. Enjoy.

Since ''LaFleur,'' I have argued that season 5 has been modeled on season 2, and
I believe my theory has held. Season 2's finale, ''Live Together, Die Alone,''
hinged on a Big Picture binary question: Does the button really do anything: Yes
or no? The season 5 finale, ''The Incident,'' hinges on the resolution of a
similar, black-or-white issue: Can the past be changed: Yes or no?

He makes three predictions of the finale. Not spoilers. He's just speculating.

Why does Locke want to murder Jacob?

Why does Eloise Hawking know so much about the castaways' destiny? Is she stuck in a self-aware, open-ended time loop, or does she have flashes of the future à la Ben?

What is the significance of the Ajira storyline?

What is the "fork in the outlet" and will it make the audience "eat its own soul?"

NO SPOILERS HERE!


The showrunners are calling this season's game changer the fork in the outlet, as we told you in an earlier post.

What do you think it is? How will it change the show forever?

E!Online is reporting that Michael Emerson (aka Ben) is saying: that the ending is : "enough to keep an audience eating its own soul for the whole hiatus."

We've had the bagel and the snake in the mailbox. Both weren't literal.

But last season's frozen donkey wheel certainly was.

Speculate in comments!

Recapping 'Dead is Dead'

Check out what EW's Doc Jensen thought of the episode.

certain to be hailed as one of the season’s best episodes (marred only by some really bad hair pieces)

And, Watch With Kristin.

Ben has a moral code, it turns out. He respects the sanctity of childhood and draws the line at killing or endangering kiddos. Baby Ben the battered child grew up to break the cycle of abuse.

And, The Washington Post.

What did you think of 'Dead is Dead?'

What did you think of the episode?

Ben and Locke, well really Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson, have great chemistry.

The question continues, can the Losties stuck in the 70s change what will happen in the future. What do you think?

Doc Jensen previews Episode 5.12: 'Dead Is Dead'

Over on EW.com, Doc Jensen's posted his thoughts about what we might expect from tonight's Lost episode, "Dead Is Dead." No spoilers there, but lots of theorizing about time travel, Little Ben's loss of innocence, and Desmond's possible super-specialness to the Island. Doc says that since this is a rare Ben-centric ep, we may dare to hope for greatness, and maybe even some more answers.

Meanwhile -- SPOILER ALERT! -- E!'s "Watch with Kristin" has posted a couple of sneak-peek videos featuring Ben and Locke. As always, actors Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn have some fabulous on-screen chemistry, playing off each other's characters like the pros they are. But if you don't want to know anything about what happens before Lost airs tonight at 8 p.m. (CDT) on ABC, please do not click and watch the videos.

What's the code for the game changer in the season finale?

NO Spoilers

We've had the bagel. And then there was the frozen donkey wheel.

What's the code for this season's game changer, you ask?

How about "the fork in the outlet," says Watch With Kristin at E!Online.

Last year we had a literal frozen donkey wheel.

Any guesses what the fork in the outlet could be? Post in comments!

Watch with Kristin's guess: Sounds like the Losties are going to be messing with the electromagnetic power of the Island, to return to the future or to unleash the metal-shavings monster.

Michael Emerson's (aka Ben) guess: "I think it all has something to do with metallic dust. I think the smoke monster is connected to that ring of powder that surrounds Jacob's cabin. They've established that there are supermagnetic forces at work on the Island, so what better medium for those forces to work through than through fine filings of metal."

Where are Bernard and Rose?

What happened to Rose and Bernard when Ben and then Locke turned the frozen donkey wheel?

Are they alive? Are they dead?

Did they end up in another time?

Are they the Adam and Eve the Losties find early in the series?

Are they living in Dharmaville unseen to us so far?

Post your rank speculation in comments!

Recapping 'Whatever Happened, Happened'

Check out what Doc Jensen at Entertainment Weekly had to say about Wednesday's episode.

... the castaways are being made to understand that their participation in past events is shaping the future that they have already experienced. They have themselves to blame for the thing that is Benjamin Linus. We are the causes of our own suffering. Think about your life. At the same time, I didn't quite know how to interpret this idea that Ben would be getting a memory wipe as part of his healing treatment. Did Richard mean that Ben would only be made to forget how Sawyer and Kate helped save his life? I hope so, because if Ben's whole childhood is about to get erased, it really makes me look stupid for insisting to the whole world that Adult Ben remembers growing up with the castaways in Dharmaville.

And, Watch With Kristin.

And, The Washington Post.

Reviewing 'Whatever Happened, Happened

So, do Kate and Sawyer's actions turn Ben into the man he is today? Did they do they right thing?

What do you think Richard Alpert can do to Ben to heal him, take away his memory and steal his innocence? What does it mean that Ben belongs to them now?

And why didn't Kate and Sawyer change their minds?

Do you think the Losties can change the future or the past, for that matter? Or did Whatever Happened, Happened?

More theories from Doc Jensen

As we wait for tonight's episode, here's a little reading from Doc Jensen at Entertainment Weekly to hold us over.

(This post is spoiler free. But if you like to avoid spoilers, wait to click on the article until after tonight's episode. The spoilers aren't answers. Just what questions will be answered in tonight's episode)

Writes Doc Jensen:

''Whatever Happened, Happened'' is the phrase that Daniel Faraday used back in ''LaFleur'' to summarize his belief that the castaways aren't creating a new version of the past, but rather merely creating the past that has always existed. And yet, one episode later in ''Namaste,'' Sawyer says that Faraday ''has some interesting theories on what we can and can't do here.'' I didn't take that to mean that Faraday has reversed his position, but rather that his position has become more nuanced. Might there be permissible exceptions to the ''whatever happened, happened'' principle?

I do have to wonder if history can be changed. Remember, Faraday knocked on the hatch and met Desmond during the flashes. And then, in current time, Desmond awoke and remembered that meeting.

Since he didn't always know about their meeting, you could argue that it didn't always happen.

Can the Losties change the past? Or the future? Post your insight, speculation, questions here.

Entertainment Weekly's take on heroes and villians in pop culture

Although not exclusively about Lost, Entertainment Weekly's current issue explores the ideas of heroes and villians, good and bad.

It covers TV, movies, comic books, books to explore how our ideas of heroes and villians have changed over the years.

Lost is mentioned as a show where the heroes don't always do the right thing and the villians can sometimes do something that's not quite bad.

We desperately want good to triumph over evil, but we can't staunch our doubts that good is up to the task. "We want heroes to know the difference between good and bad, and we want them to be strong," says Lost exec producer Damon Lindelof. "However, it's hard for such a person to be accessible unless they're also extremely effed up.because only a seriously disturbed individual would want to be a hero."

Of course, it's written by Doc Jensen, who writes about Lost for the magazine.

In the print version of the article, there are photos of both Ben and Kate.

Preview: Ben's shot and only Jack can save him?

Here's a sneak peak of Wednesday's episode, Whatever Happened, Happened.

Check out the three videos to see what happens after Sayid shot Ben.

Juliet says Ben "needs a real surgeon."

Will Jack save the day? Does he want to?

And, count on Hurley for the hilarious Back the Future reference that we've all been making for weeks.

TV Guide: Getting Lost

Check out this TV Guide video that quickly recaps "He's Our You" but also boasts short interviews with Little Ben, Juliet and Horace ... or at least the actors who play them.

Also more speculation on why Sun crashed instead of flashing with Jack, Kate, Sayid and Hurley.