Tonight on LOST: 'The Last Recruit'

The cryptic title is "The Last Recruit" -- meaning, presumably, the last Lostie ostensibly to be recruited to UnLocke's tribe. [But don't hold me to that; I'm just guessing here.] ABC describes tonight's Lost episode thus: "Alliances are forged and broken as the Locke and Jack camps merge." We could have guessed this, of course, since last week's ep ended with Hugo, Jack, Sun and Frank arriving at Camp UnLocke, and with Jack staring at UnLocke in disbelief.

Yeah, the Doc had heard about the MiB taking on the resurrected appearance of Locke, but this was the first time Jack had actually seen his old frenemy's form as inhabited by Smokey. Jack having been the one who saw the real Locke in his coffin, and Jack having been the one who put his dead dad Christian's shoes on dead Locke's feet prior to loading the coffin on Ajira 316 (doing so under instructions from Eloise Hawking, and what was that all about, anyway?) -- well, it's understandable that the Doc would be having a mental moment where his Man of Science past is (as the Bible would say) "wrestling Jacob" in his Man of Faith present.

So (except for Richard, Miles and Ben, who are off on their own personal mission to kill Smokey) we've got our Losties more or less reunited now. Except, of course, for Sun, whose husband is once again the missing piece of the reunion puzzle; the kidnapped Jin is still at Camp Widmore over on Hydra Island. But since that is where UnLocke's crew apparently is bound for the next and possibly final skirmish, there is a good chance that Sun and Jin will reunite at some point soon. Maybe even tonight.

Or not. These Lost writers can be a cruel bunch, after all. Witness Desmond, who was kidnapped from his Long Beach hospital bed, drugged, transported back to the last place he wanted to go, tied up, subjected to a massive electromagnetic event in the name of saving the world (again), and now has been kidnapped once more by Sayid -- and thrown into a well by UnLocke. Poor Des! As Original Recipe Locke once told little Walt: "You're not having a good month."

I predict we won't will see any more character-centric flashes into the Sideways World during these last few episodes of Lost. Instead, I think we'll start to see many of our alt-Losties gathering, for one reason or another, at St. Sebastian's in LA-X. Alt-Desmond is giving little psychic pushes to them, as he did to Hugo -- or as in the case of alt-Locke, Des is giving him a great big smack with a Honda. Coincidentally, alt-Jin should be showing up at the ER with a wounded, pregnant Sun. It's about time for alt-James to make a reappearance with alt-Kate (our favorite fleeing felon and freckled femme fatale!) in police custody, too.

But when will we see alt-Juliet? According to ABC, Elizabeth Mitchell isn't listed among tonight's guest stars. Yet I can't help thinking that we'll see alt-Juliet as a doctor at St. Sebastian's (and, I'm betting, as Jack's ex-wife and David's mother), at some point soon. Surely she and alt-James will need to meet up, let the sparks fly, and plan that destiny-fated coffee date?

Remember that, as in recent weeks, Lost will run a couple of minutes long tonight and will be followed by Elizabeth Mitchell's new series, V.

And remember that next week -- for the only time in this final season -- we will not get a new episode of Lost. Instead, we'll get a repeat of the stellar episode "Ab Aeterno," revealing the backstory of that mysterious, ageless Island consigliere, Richard Alpert.

Come back to Losties Island tonight after the show ends, and comment on "The Last Recruit"!

Tonight on LOST: 'Everybody Loves Hugo'

Tonight's episode of Lost, "Everybody Loves Hugo," is obviously going to be Hurley-centric. There is a lot of fan speculation that we'll see Hugo's long-lost Island love, Libby (played by Cynthia Watros), returned to life and meeting up with alt-Hugo in Sideways World.

This episode promises to be reminiscent of the Season 2 ep, "Everybody Hates Hugo." In the flashbacks, Hurley uses The Numbers and wins the lottery, quits his job at Mr. Cluck's, and soon becomes convinced he is cursed because with his new money, everything in his life changes for the worse. On the Island, Hugo is given the job of supervising the food and supplies from the Hatch, and he worries that everyone will resent him for the decisions he has to make. In that same episode, we also are introduced to Libby, one of the Tailies who captured Sawyer, Jin and Michael after they lost Walt to the Others and were shipwrecked from the raft at the end of Season 1.

In Sideways World, we have seen alt-Hugo describing himself as the the luckiest guy in the world. In other glimpses we have seen him as a conscientious and kindly boss, though one with a more corporate persona than Original Recipe Hugo.

While things would seem better overall for alt-Hugo, it's likely that not everything will be perfect, just as nothing is perfect for any of our LA-X Losties. It will be interesting to see if he has any flashes of his Island life, and if he interacts in Sideways World with any more of his fellow 815ers.

Come back after the show ends and discuss "Everybody Loves Hugo" in the comments!

Tonight on LOST: 'Happily Ever After'

ABC's official summary of tonight's Lost episode: "Desmond wakes up to discover he's back on the Island."

And as Tweeted last week by showrunner (and co-scriptwriter, with Carlton Cuse, of tonight's ep) Damon Lindelof: "In one week, the conversation is going to change."

Taken all together, this means we can probably expect some real revelations from tonight's installation of Lost.

That title, for instance. Last week, in "The Package," we heard the phrase "happily ever after" from the sarcastic lips of killer-for-hire Martin Keamy, taunting poor English-less Jin as he was being duct-taped up in that walk-in fridge.

It appears that Des was drugged, put on a submarine and brought to the Island against his will by his formidable father-in-law, Charles Widmore. Obviously, as Eloise Hawking told Des at the Lamp Post station in LA, the Island is not yet done with him. Tonight's ep does not bode well for Desmond's "happily ever after" with his little family.

Widmore's apparently willing to sacrifice his already-rocky relationship with daughter Penny (and by extension, grandson Charlie) if it means saving the Island, and the world at large, from MiB. What's more, he expects Des to sacrifice too -- not just for his Lostie friends this time, but for the sake of Penny and Charlie's very existence. At least, that's what Widmore implied last week when he spoke to Jin about how Sun and their little Ji-Yeon would "cease to be" if MiB escaped from the Island.

Tonight, I hope we'll get at least some hints about how the alt-reality is connected to what is happening on the Island, and to the war that has now begun in earnest.

It will be fascinating to see what's happening in Desmond's alt-reality. Is he still married, and if so, is his wife still Penny? Does he still have psychic powers? Does he cross between realities, as he did in "The Constant" and "Flashes Before Your Eyes"?

Check back here as soon as the show ends to discuss "Happily Ever After" in the comments!

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.

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!